Head-To-Head Analysis: ProPetro (NYSE:PUMP) vs. Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND)

Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) and ProPetro (NYSE:PUMP) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Smart Sand and ProPetro, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smart Sand	0	1	0	0	2.00
ProPetro	1	3	4	0	2.38

ProPetro has a consensus price target of $12.83, indicating a potential upside of 10.29%. Given ProPetro’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe ProPetro is more favorable than Smart Sand.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Smart Sand and ProPetro”s gross 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	0.72	$2.99 million	$0.09	57.44
ProPetro	$1.27 billion	1.12	$820,000.00	$0.01	1,163.60

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

Profitability

This table compares Smart Sand and ProPetro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smart Sand	1.16%	-7.55%	-5.25%
ProPetro	0.06%	0.10%	0.07%

Volatility and Risk

Smart Sand has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProPetro has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

35.2% of Smart Sand shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.7% of ProPetro shares are owned by institutional investors. 34.0% of Smart Sand shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of ProPetro shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

ProPetro beats Smart Sand on 10 of the 14 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 ProPetro

ProPetro Holding Corp. operates as an integrated oilfield services company. The company provides hydraulic fracturing, wireline, cementing, and other complementary oilfield completion services to upstream oil and gas companies in the Permian Basin. ProPetro Holding Corp. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.