Financial Survey: ProFrac (NASDAQ:ACDC) and Select Water Solutions (NYSE:WTTR)

Select Water Solutions (NYSE:WTTR) and ProFrac (NASDAQ:ACDC) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Select Water Solutions and ProFrac, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Select Water Solutions	0	3	7	0	2.70
ProFrac	2	2	1	0	1.80

Select Water Solutions currently has a consensus price target of $24.43, indicating a potential upside of 51.36%. ProFrac has a consensus price target of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 26.58%. Given Select Water Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Select Water Solutions is more favorable than ProFrac.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Select Water Solutions and ProFrac”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Select Water Solutions	$1.52 billion	1.47	$21.22 million	$0.41	39.36
ProFrac	$1.94 billion	0.33	-$369.00 million	($2.18)	-1.63

Select Water Solutions has higher earnings, but lower revenue than ProFrac. ProFrac is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Select Water Solutions, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Select Water Solutions has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProFrac has a beta of 1.48, suggesting that its share price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Select Water Solutions and ProFrac’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Select Water Solutions	3.28%	4.70%	2.94%
ProFrac	-20.47%	-47.13%	-13.05%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.7% of Select Water Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.8% of ProFrac shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Select Water Solutions shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of ProFrac shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Select Water Solutions beats ProFrac on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Select Water Solutions

Select Water Solutions, Inc. provides water-management and chemical services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies. Its services support drilling, completions and ongoing production, with a focus on managing water used in and generated by energy operations. The company’s offerings include water sourcing, transfer, treatment, recycling and disposal, as well as water infrastructure such as pipelines and related facilities. It also supplies specialty chemicals and technical services designed for oilfield operations.

About ProFrac

ProFrac Holding Corp. is an oilfield services company that supports onshore oil and natural gas producers, primarily in the United States. Its services focus on well completion, including hydraulic fracturing, which uses high-pressure fluid to help release hydrocarbons from underground formations. The company also provides wireline services used to prepare and monitor wells, and produces proppant and other materials used in completion operations. ProFrac’s business includes equipment and manufacturing capabilities that support its oilfield services operations.