Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) and ProFrac (NASDAQ:ACDC) Head-To-Head Contrast

Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) and ProFrac (NASDAQ:ACDC) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.1% of Baker Hughes shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.8% of ProFrac shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Baker Hughes shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of ProFrac 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.

Profitability

This table compares Baker Hughes and ProFrac’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Baker Hughes	11.04%	14.56%	6.53%
ProFrac	-12.89%	-22.78%	-8.09%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Baker Hughes and ProFrac, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Baker Hughes	0	4	22	0	2.85
ProFrac	4	3	0	0	1.43

Baker Hughes presently has a consensus target price of $52.57, indicating a potential upside of 15.55%. ProFrac has a consensus target price of $6.10, indicating a potential upside of 63.10%. Given ProFrac’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe ProFrac is more favorable than Baker Hughes.

Risk and Volatility

Baker Hughes has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProFrac has a beta of 1.61, meaning that its stock price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Baker Hughes and ProFrac”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Baker Hughes	$27.83 billion	1.61	$2.98 billion	$3.06	14.87
ProFrac	$2.19 billion	0.31	-$215.10 million	($1.74)	-2.15

Baker Hughes has higher revenue and earnings than ProFrac. ProFrac is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Baker Hughes, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Baker Hughes beats ProFrac on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes Company provides a portfolio of technologies and services to energy and industrial value chain worldwide. The company operates through Oilfield Services & Equipment (OFSE) and Industrial & Energy Technology (IET) segments. The OFSE segment designs and manufactures products and provides related services, including exploration, appraisal, development, production, rejuvenation, and decommissioning for onshore and offshore oilfield operations. This segment also provides drilling services, drill bits, and drilling and completions fluids; completions, intervention, measurements, pressure pumping, and wireline services; artificial lift systems, and oilfield and industrial chemicals; subsea projects and services, flexible pipe systems, and surface pressure control systems; and integrated well services and solutions. It serves oil and natural gas companies; the United States and international independent oil and natural gas companies; national or state-owned oil companies; engineering, procurement, and construction contractors; geothermal companies; and other oilfield service companies. The IET segment provides gas technology equipment, including drivers, driven equipment, flow control, and turnkey solutions for the mechanical-drive, compression, and power-generation applications; and energy sectors, such as oil and gas, LNG operations, petrochemical, and carbon solutions. This segment also provides rack-based vibration monitoring equipment and sensors; integrated asset performance management products; inspection services; pumps, valves, and gears; precision sensors and instrumentation, and condition monitoring solutions. It serves upstream, midstream, downstream, onshore, offshore, and small and large scale customers. The company was formerly known as Baker Hughes, a GE company and changed its name to Baker Hughes Company in October 2019. Baker Hughes Company was incorporated in 2016 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About ProFrac

ProFrac Holding Corp. operates as a technology-focused energy services holding company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Stimulation Services, Manufacturing, and Proppant Production. The company offers hydraulic fracturing, well stimulation, in-basin frac sand, and other completion services and complementary products and services to upstream oil and natural gas companies engaged in the exploration and production of unconventional oil and natural gas resources. It also manufactures and sells high horsepower pumps, valves, piping, swivels, large-bore manifold systems, and fluid ends. ProFrac Holding Corp. was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Willow Park, Texas.