Head to Head Review: Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) vs. Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS)

Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) and Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

35.2% of Smart Sand shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.9% of Precision Drilling shares are held by institutional investors. 33.5% of Smart Sand shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Precision Drilling shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smart Sand	2.71%	4.41%	3.07%
Precision Drilling	-1.68%	2.11%	1.24%

Volatility and Risk

Smart Sand has a beta of 0.36, indicating that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Precision Drilling has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Smart Sand and Precision Drilling, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smart Sand	0	0	1	0	3.00
Precision Drilling	1	1	5	1	2.75

Precision Drilling has a consensus price target of $129.25, suggesting a potential upside of 42.67%. Given Precision Drilling’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Precision Drilling is more favorable than Smart Sand.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Smart Sand and Precision Drilling”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smart Sand	$330.15 million	0.61	$1.35 million	$0.26	18.27
Precision Drilling	$1.32 billion	0.86	$1.32 million	($2.09)	-43.35

Smart Sand has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Precision Drilling. Precision Drilling 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

Smart Sand beats Precision Drilling on 8 of the 15 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 Precision Drilling

Precision Drilling Corporation, a drilling company, provides onshore drilling, completion, and production services to exploration and production companies in the oil and natural gas and geothermal industries in North America and the Middle East. The company operates through Contract Drilling Services and Completion and Production Services segments. The Contract Drilling Services segment offers onshore well drilling services to exploration and production companies in the geothermal, oil and natural gas industry. This segment offers services include land and turnkey drilling; and procurement and distribution of oilfield supplies, as well as manufacture and repair of drilling and service rig equipment. In addition, it operates land drilling rigs in Canada, the United States, and the Middle East, as well as operates AlphaAutomation, AlphaApps, and AlphaAnalytics data services. The company offers EverGreen suite of environmental solutions comprising EverGreenMonitoring, EverGreenEnergy, and EverGreen Fuel Cell. The Completion and Production Services segment provides service rigs for well completion, workover, abandonment, maintenance, and re-entry preparation services; equipment rentals; and camp and catering services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies. This segment operates well completion and workover service rigs in Canada and the United States. Precision Drilling Corporation was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.