Forum Energy Technologies (NYSE:FET) and Matrix Service (NASDAQ:MTRX) Critical Comparison

Forum Energy Technologies (NYSE:FET) and Matrix Service (NASDAQ:MTRX) 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, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Forum Energy Technologies and Matrix Service, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Forum Energy Technologies	0	0	0	0	0.00
Matrix Service	0	0	1	0	3.00

Matrix Service has a consensus price target of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 39.37%. Given Matrix Service’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Matrix Service is more favorable than Forum Energy Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares Forum Energy Technologies and Matrix Service’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Forum Energy Technologies	-15.35%	-2.26%	-0.97%
Matrix Service	-3.04%	-14.08%	-4.28%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Forum Energy Technologies and Matrix Service”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Forum Energy Technologies	$816.40 million	0.29	-$135.33 million	($10.04)	-1.89
Matrix Service	$728.21 million	0.54	-$24.98 million	($0.81)	-17.72

Matrix Service has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Forum Energy Technologies. Matrix Service is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Forum Energy Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Forum Energy Technologies has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Matrix Service has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

65.6% of Forum Energy Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.4% of Matrix Service shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.9% of Forum Energy Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Matrix Service shares are owned by company 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.

Summary

Matrix Service beats Forum Energy Technologies on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Forum Energy Technologies

Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes products serving the oil, natural gas, industrial, and renewable energy industries in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Drilling & Downhole, Completions, and Production. The Drilling & Downhole segment designs, manufactures, and supplies products, and provides related services to the drilling, well construction, artificial lift, and subsea energy construction and services markets, including applications in oil and natural gas, renewable energy, defense, and communications. This segment offers drilling technologies consisting of capital equipment and a line of products consumed in the drilling process; well construction casing and cementing equipment, and products for artificial lift equipment and cables; and subsea remotely operated vehicles and trenchers, submarine rescue vehicles, specialty components and tools, and technical services. The Completions segment offers hydraulic fracturing pumps, cooling systems, high-pressure flexible hoses, and flow iron for pressure pumping markets; wireline cable and pressure control equipment for well completion and intervention service markets; and coiled tubing strings and coiled line pipe and related services. The Production segment designs, manufactures, and supplies products, and provides related equipment and services for production and infrastructure markets. This segment offers engineered process systems, production equipment, specialty separation equipment, and various industrial valves for oil and natural gas customers, power generation, renewable energy, and other general industrial applications. The company was formerly known as Forum Oilfield Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. in August 2010. Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Matrix Service

Matrix Service Company provides engineering, fabrication, construction, and maintenance services to support critical energy infrastructure and industrial markets in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Utility and Power Infrastructure; Process and Industrial Facilities; and Storage and Terminal Solutions. The Utility and Power Infrastructure segment offers power delivery services, including construction of new substations, upgrades of existing substations, transmission and distribution line installations, and upgrades and maintenance, and emergency and storm restoration services. This segment also provides engineering, fabrication, and construction services for LNG utility peak shaving facilities; and construction and maintenance services to power generation facilities, including natural gas fired facilities. The Process and Industrial Facilities segment engages in the refining and processing of crude oil; fractionating and marketing of natural, gas and natural gas liquids; and offers plant maintenance, turnarounds, engineering, industrial cleaning services, and capital construction services. The Storage and Terminal Solutions segment undertakes work related to aboveground crude oil and refined product storage tanks and terminals; engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction services related to cryogenic and other specialty tanks and terminals for LNG, NGLs, hydrogen, ammonia, propane, butane, liquid nitrogen/liquid oxygen, and liquid petroleum; and provides plant work, truck and rail loading/offloading facilities, and marine structures, as well as storage tank and terminal maintenance and repair. This segment also manufactures and sells precision engineered specialty tank products, including geodesic domes, aluminum internal floating roofs, floating suction and skimmer systems, roof drain systems, and floating roof seals. Matrix Service Company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.