Critical Analysis: Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) and KLX Energy Services (NASDAQ:KLXE)

Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) and KLX Energy Services (NASDAQ:KLXE) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Smart Sand has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KLX Energy Services has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

35.2% of Smart Sand shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.7% of KLX Energy Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.3% of Smart Sand shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of KLX Energy Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Smart Sand and KLX Energy Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smart Sand	0.26%	-8.83%	-6.20%
KLX Energy Services	-10.59%	N/A	-13.81%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Smart Sand and KLX Energy Services, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smart Sand	1	0	0	0	1.00
KLX Energy Services	1	0	0	0	1.00

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Smart Sand and KLX Energy Services”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smart Sand	$311.37 million	0.29	$2.99 million	$0.01	206.00
KLX Energy Services	$709.30 million	0.04	-$53.00 million	($4.07)	-0.41

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

Summary

Smart Sand beats KLX Energy Services on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Smart Sand

Smart Sand, Inc., an integrated frac and industrial sand supply and services company, engages in the excavation, processing, and sale of sands or proppant for use in hydraulic fracturing operations in the oil and gas industry in the United States. It also provides proppant logistics services; and wellsite storage solutions through SmartSystems products and services. The company sells its products primarily to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, oilfield service companies, and industrial manufacturers. Smart Sand, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.

About KLX Energy Services

KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. provides drilling, completions, production, and well intervention services and products to the onshore oil and gas producing regions of the United States. The company operates through three segments: Southwest, Rocky Mountains, and Northeast/Mid-Con. It provides directional drilling services; downhole navigational and rental tools businesses and support services, including well planning, site supervision, accommodation rentals, and other drilling rentals; and various technologies, including gamma ray, azimuthal gamma ray, real-time continuous inclination and azimuth, rotary steerable, pressure-while-drilling, mode shifting, stick-slip and destructive dynamics, dynamic sequencing and real-time shock, and vibration modules. The company also offers coiled tubing and nitrogen services; wireline services, including pump down perforating, logging, and pipe recover; pressure control products and services; wellhead and hydraulic fracturing rental products and services; flowback and testing services; thru-tubing technologies and services; rig assist snubbing services; cementing products and services; acidizing and pressure pumping services; and downhole completion tools, such as toe sleeves, wet shoe cementing bypass subs, composite plugs, dissolvable plugs, liner hangers, stage cementing tools, inflatables, float and casing equipment, and retrievable completion tools. In addition, it provides production services comprising maintenance-related intervention services; production blow out preventers; mechanical wireline services; slick line services; hydro-testing services; premium tubulars; and other specialized production tools. Further, the company provides intervention services consisting of technicians and equipment that are focused on providing customers engineered solutions to downhole complications. KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.