Critical Analysis: WBI (WBI) & Its Peers

WBI (NYSE:WBI) is one of 178 publicly-traded companies in the “Energy Equipment & Services” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare WBI to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

49.0% of shares of all “Energy Equipment & Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 50.6% of WBI shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.3% of shares of all “Energy Equipment & Services” companies are owned by 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 WBI and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WBI	0.54%	0.84%	0.41%
WBI Competitors	-11.45%	13.69%	1.52%

Dividends

WBI pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. WBI pays out 250.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Energy Equipment & Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.5% and pay out 55.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. WBI lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares WBI and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
WBI	$525.55 million	$11.89 million	410.45
WBI Competitors	$3.15 billion	$26.09 million	14.25

WBI’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than WBI. WBI is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for WBI and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WBI	0	2	3	0	2.60
WBI Competitors	1677	7135	8737	469	2.44

WBI presently has a consensus target price of $34.20, indicating a potential upside of 4.15%. As a group, “Energy Equipment & Services” companies have a potential upside of 14.20%. Given WBI’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe WBI has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Summary

WBI rivals beat WBI on 9 of the 14 factors compared.

About WBI

WaterBridge Infrastructure LLC is an integrated, pure-play water infrastructure company. WaterBridge Infrastructure LLC is based in HOUSTON.