Head to Head Review: Willbros Group (WG) & Select Energy Services (WTTR)

Select Energy Services (NASDAQ: WTTR) and Willbros Group (NYSE:WG) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, profitabiliy, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

57.7% of Willbros Group shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Willbros Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Select Energy Services and Willbros Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Select Energy Services	-7.80%	-11.02%	-8.68%
Willbros Group	-6.17%	-31.89%	-11.13%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Select Energy Services and Willbros Group’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Select Energy Services	$323.49 million	1.43	$22.03 million	N/A	N/A
Willbros Group	$730.56 million	0.19	-$9.80 million	($0.73)	-3.00

Select Energy Services has higher revenue, but lower earnings than Willbros Group.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Select Energy Services and Willbros Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Select Energy Services	0	1	6	0	2.86
Willbros Group	0	0	0	0	N/A

Select Energy Services currently has a consensus target price of $19.71, indicating a potential upside of 29.02%. Given Select Energy Services’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Select Energy Services is more favorable than Willbros Group.

Summary

Select Energy Services beats Willbros Group on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

Select Energy Services Company Profile

Select Energy Services, Inc. is a holding company. The Company is provider of total water solutions to the United States unconventional oil and gas industry. The Company is engaged in sourcing and transfer of water prior to its use in drilling and completion activities associated with hydraulic fracturing or fracking, which collectively referrd to as pre-frac water services. The Company provides its services to integrated and exploration and production (E&P) companies. Its operating segments include water solutions, accommodation and rentals, and wellsite completion and constructive services. The Company’s services include water sourcing, water transfer, water treatment, fluid handling, disposal solutions, accommodations, rentals, and wellsite construction. The Company also provides complementary water-related services that support oil and gas well completion and production activities including containment, monitoring, treatment, flowback, hauling and disposal.

Willbros Group Company Profile

Willbros Group, Inc. is a specialty energy infrastructure contractor serving the oil and gas and power industries with offerings that primarily include construction, maintenance and facilities development services. The Company operates through three segments: Oil & Gas, Utility T&D and Canada. The Company provides services through operating subsidiaries. The Company’s segments operated primarily in the United States and Canada. The Company provides construction, maintenance and lifecycle extension services to the midstream markets. The Company provides a range of services in electric and natural gas transmission and distribution, including engineering, procurement, maintenance and construction, repair and restoration of utility infrastructure. It is engaged in construction, maintenance and fabrication, including integrity and supporting civil work, general mechanical and facility construction, application program interface (API) storage tanks, general and modular fabrication.