Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) vs. Select Water Solutions (NYSE:WTTR) Financial Survey

Select Water Solutions (NYSE:WTTR) and Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Select Water Solutions and Liberty Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Select Water Solutions	0	3	7	0	2.70
Liberty Energy	0	6	8	0	2.57

Select Water Solutions currently has a consensus price target of $24.57, indicating a potential upside of 51.22%. Liberty Energy has a consensus price target of $26.42, indicating a potential upside of 99.46%. Given Liberty Energy’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Liberty Energy is more favorable than Select Water Solutions.

Dividends

Select Water Solutions pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Liberty Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Select Water Solutions pays out 68.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Liberty Energy pays out 150.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Select Water Solutions has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Liberty Energy has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Select Water Solutions and Liberty Energy”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	1.48	$21.22 million	$0.41	39.63
Liberty Energy	$4.01 billion	0.54	$147.87 million	$0.24	55.18

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

Risk & Volatility

Select Water Solutions has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liberty Energy has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Select Water Solutions and Liberty Energy’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%
Liberty Energy	0.91%	2.13%	0.99%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

81.7% of Select Water Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Liberty Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Select Water Solutions shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Liberty Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Select Water Solutions beats Liberty Energy on 9 of the 16 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 Liberty Energy

Liberty Energy Inc. is a Denver-based oilfield services company that supports onshore oil and natural gas producers, primarily in the United States. Founded in 2011 as Liberty Oilfield Services, the company adopted the Liberty Energy name in 2022. Its core business is hydraulic fracturing, a well-completion technique used to extract oil and natural gas. Liberty also provides related services and equipment, including wireline operations, proppant and logistics solutions, and technologies designed to support wellsite operations.