Contrasting Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) and Subsea 7 (OTCMKTS:SUBCY)

Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) and Subsea 7 (OTCMKTS:SUBCY) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Smart Sand and Subsea 7, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smart Sand	0	1	0	0	2.00
Subsea 7	0	3	0	0	2.00

Risk and Volatility

Smart Sand has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Subsea 7 has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

35.2% of Smart Sand shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Subsea 7 shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.3% of Smart Sand shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Subsea 7 shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Smart Sand and Subsea 7’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smart Sand	0.41%	-8.67%	-6.01%
Subsea 7	5.76%	9.46%	5.08%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Smart Sand and Subsea 7″s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smart Sand	$330.15 million	0.65	$1.35 million	$0.03	163.67
Subsea 7	$7.09 billion	1.36	$411.40 million	$1.38	23.62

Subsea 7 has higher revenue and earnings than Smart Sand. Subsea 7 is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smart Sand, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Subsea 7 beats Smart Sand on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Smart Sand

Smart Sand, Inc., an integrated frac and industrial sand supply and services company, engages in the excavation, processing, and sale of sands or proppant for use in hydraulic fracturing operations in the oil and gas industry in the United States. It also provides proppant logistics services; and wellsite storage solutions through SmartSystems products and services. The company sells its products primarily to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, oilfield service companies, and industrial manufacturers. Smart Sand, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.

About Subsea 7

Subsea 7 S.A. delivers offshore projects and services for the energy industry worldwide. It provides subsea field development products and services, including project management, design and engineering, procurement, fabrication, survey, installation, and commissioning of production facilities on the seabed and the tie-back of its facilities to fixed or floating platforms or to the shore. The company also offers engineering, procurement, commissioning, and installation of subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines; inspection, repair, maintenance, remote intervention, and integrity management of subsea infrastructure services; conventional services comprising fabrication, installation, extension, and refurbishment of fixed and floating platforms and associated pipelines in shallow water; and hook-up services. In addition, it operates heavy lifting operations and heavy transportation services for renewables structures; and installs offshore wind turbine foundations, as well as engages in the decommissioning of redundant offshore structures. Further, the company provides remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and tooling services to support exploration and production activities, as well as engineering and advisory services for customers in the oil and gas, renewables, and utilities industries. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.