Head to Head Comparison: Superior Energy Services (OTCMKTS:SPNX) & USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC)

Superior Energy Services (OTCMKTS:SPNX) and USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Superior Energy Services and USA Compression Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Superior Energy Services	0	0	0	0	0.00
USA Compression Partners	1	3	0	0	1.75

USA Compression Partners has a consensus target price of $26.25, indicating a potential upside of 8.76%. Given USA Compression Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe USA Compression Partners is more favorable than Superior Energy Services.

Profitability

This table compares Superior Energy Services and USA Compression Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Superior Energy Services	N/A	N/A	N/A
USA Compression Partners	9.99%	-81.01%	3.58%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

47.8% of USA Compression Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 7.3% of Superior Energy Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Superior Energy Services and USA Compression Partners”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Superior Energy Services	$919.42 million	0.00	$175.02 million	$6.73	0.02
USA Compression Partners	$950.45 million	2.99	$99.57 million	$0.68	35.49

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

Summary

USA Compression Partners beats Superior Energy Services on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Superior Energy Services

Superior Energy Services, Inc. provides oilfield services and equipment to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the United States and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Drilling Products and Services, Onshore Completion and Workover Services, Production Services, and Technical Solutions. The Drilling Products and Services segment rents downhole drilling tools, including tubulars, such as primary drill pipe strings, landing strings, completion tubulars, and associated accessories, as well as manufactures and rents bottom hole tools comprising stabilizers, non-magnetic drill collars, and hole openers; and surfaces, such as temporary onshore and offshore accommodation modules and accessories. The Onshore Completion and Workover Services segment offers fluid management services used to obtain, move, store, and dispose of fluids that are involved in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas; and workover services consisting of installations, completions, and sidetracking of wells, as well as support for perforating operations. The Production Services segment provides intervention services, such as coiled tubing, cased hole and mechanical wireline, hydraulic workover and snubbing, pressure control, production testing and optimization, and remedial pumping services. The Technical Solutions segment offers well containment systems; completion tools and services, including sand control systems, well screens and filters, and surface-controlled sub surface safety valves; and well and sand control, and stimulation services. This segment also produces and sells oil and gas. Superior Energy Services, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. On December 7, 2020, Superior Energy Services, Inc., along with its affiliates, filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

About USA Compression Partners

USA Compression Partners, LP provides compression services under term contracts with customers in the natural gas and crude oil industries in the United States. The company engineers, designs, operates, services, and repairs its compression units; and maintains related support inventory and equipment. It also provides compression services in various shale plays, including the Utica, Marcellus, Permian Basin, Delaware Basin, Eagle Ford, Mississippi Lime, Granite Wash, Woodford, Barnett, Haynesville, Niobrara, and Fayetteville shales. As of December 31, 2017, the company had approximately 1,799,781 horsepower in its fleet. It serves oil companies; and independent producers, processors, gatherers, and transporters of natural gas and crude oil. USA Compression GP, LLC operates as the general partner of USA Compression Partners, LP. The company was formerly known as Compression Holdings, LP, and changed its name to USA Compression Partners, LP in June 2011. USA Compression Partners, LP was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.