Head to Head Analysis: NGL Energy Partners (NYSE:NGL) vs. Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC)

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) and NGL Energy Partners (NYSE:NGL) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Ardmore Shipping has a beta of 0.03, indicating that its stock price is 97% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NGL Energy Partners has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Ardmore Shipping pays an annual dividend of $1.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. NGL Energy Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Ardmore Shipping pays out 60.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NGL Energy Partners pays out -14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ardmore Shipping and NGL Energy Partners”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardmore Shipping	$310.20 million	2.36	$41.01 million	$2.59	6.95
NGL Energy Partners	$3.52 billion	0.62	-$142.29 million	($2.84)	-6.13

Ardmore Shipping has higher earnings, but lower revenue than NGL Energy Partners. NGL Energy Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ardmore Shipping, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ardmore Shipping and NGL Energy Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardmore Shipping	29.67%	15.24%	12.72%
NGL Energy Partners	-3.76%	-39.51%	3.90%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

62.2% of Ardmore Shipping shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.6% of NGL Energy Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of NGL Energy Partners shares are owned by 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Ardmore Shipping and NGL Energy Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardmore Shipping	0	1	3	0	2.75
NGL Energy Partners	0	1	0	1	3.00

Ardmore Shipping presently has a consensus price target of $17.00, suggesting a potential downside of 5.59%. Given Ardmore Shipping’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ardmore Shipping is more favorable than NGL Energy Partners.

Summary

Ardmore Shipping beats NGL Energy Partners on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ardmore Shipping

Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. The company's fleet consists of 22 owned vessels including 21 Eco-design and 1 Eco-mod vessel, and four chartered-in vessels. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers. Ardmore Shipping Corporation was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.

About NGL Energy Partners

NGL Energy Partners LP engages in the transportation, storage, blending, and marketing of crude oil, natural gas liquids, refined products / renewables, and water solutions. The company operates in three segments: Water Solutions, Crude Oil Logistics, and Liquids Logistics. The Water Solutions segment transports, treats, recycles, and disposes produced and flowback water generated from oil and natural gas production; aggregates and sells recovered crude oil; disposes solids, such as tank bottoms, and drilling fluid and muds, as well as performs truck and frac tank washouts; and sells produced water for reuse and recycle, and brackish non-potable water. The Crude Oil Logistics segment purchases crude oil from producers and marketers, and transports it to refineries for resale at pipeline injection stations, storage terminals, barge loading facilities, rail facilities, refineries, and other trade hubs; and provides storage, terminaling, and transportation services through pipelines. The Liquids Logistics segment supplies natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, and biodiesel to commercial, retail, and industrial customers in the United States and Canada through its 24 terminals, third-party storage and terminal facilities, and nine common carrier pipelines, as well as through fleet of leased railcars. This segment is also involved in the marine export of butane through its facility located in Chesapeake, Virginia. NGL Energy Holdings LLC serves as the general partner of the company. The company was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.