Contrasting Kinetik (NYSE:KNTK) and ProFrac (NASDAQ:ACDC)

Kinetik (NYSE:KNTK) and ProFrac (NASDAQ:ACDC) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

21.1% of Kinetik shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.8% of ProFrac shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Kinetik shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of ProFrac shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Kinetik and ProFrac, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kinetik	0	5	7	0	2.58
ProFrac	5	2	0	0	1.29

Kinetik currently has a consensus target price of $50.90, indicating a potential upside of 50.37%. ProFrac has a consensus target price of $5.80, indicating a potential upside of 51.83%. Given ProFrac’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ProFrac is more favorable than Kinetik.

Volatility & Risk

Kinetik has a beta of 3.07, suggesting that its share price is 207% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProFrac has a beta of 1.66, suggesting that its share price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kinetik	6.70%	-5.74%	1.81%
ProFrac	-16.86%	-32.01%	-11.17%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kinetik and ProFrac”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kinetik	$1.48 billion	3.70	$244.23 million	$0.42	80.60
ProFrac	$2.19 billion	0.32	-$215.10 million	($1.74)	-2.20

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

Summary

Kinetik beats ProFrac on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kinetik

Kinetik Holdings Inc. operates as a midstream company in the Texas Delaware Basin. It provides gathering, transportation, compression, processing, and treating services for companies that produce natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude oil, and water. The company is headquartered in Midland, 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.