Core Laboratories N.V. (CLB) vs. Antero Midstream GP (AMGP) Critical Review

Core Laboratories N.V. (NYSE: CLB) and Antero Midstream GP (NASDAQ:AMGP) are both mid-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Dividends

Core Laboratories N.V. pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Antero Midstream GP does not pay a dividend. Core Laboratories N.V. pays out 134.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Core Laboratories N.V. and Antero Midstream GP, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Core Laboratories N.V.	1	8	4	0	2.23
Antero Midstream GP	0	3	11	1	2.87

Core Laboratories N.V. currently has a consensus target price of $118.00, suggesting a potential upside of 31.90%. Antero Midstream GP has a consensus target price of $26.73, suggesting a potential upside of 43.50%. Given Antero Midstream GP’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Antero Midstream GP is more favorable than Core Laboratories N.V..

Profitability

This table compares Core Laboratories N.V. and Antero Midstream GP’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Core Laboratories N.V.	11.80%	49.29%	13.35%
Antero Midstream GP	N/A	-77.88%	-46.99%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Core Laboratories N.V. and Antero Midstream GP’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Core Laboratories N.V.	$614.73 million	6.42	$123.03 million	$1.64	54.55
Antero Midstream GP	$39.24 million	88.39	N/A	N/A	N/A

Core Laboratories N.V. has higher revenue and earnings than Antero Midstream GP.

Summary

Antero Midstream GP beats Core Laboratories N.V. on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

Core Laboratories N.V. Company Profile

Core Laboratories N.V. provides reservoir description, production enhancement and reservoir management services to the oil and gas industry. The Company operates through three segments: Reservoir Description, Production Enhancement and Reservoir Management. The Reservoir Description segment encompasses the characterization of petroleum reservoir rock, fluid and gas samples. It provides analytical and field services to characterize properties of crude oil and petroleum products to the oil and gas industry. The Production Enhancement segment includes products and services relating to reservoir well completions, perforations, stimulations and production. It provides integrated diagnostic services to evaluate the effectiveness of well completions. The Reservoir Management segment combines and integrates information from reservoir description and production enhancement services to increase production and recovery of oil and gas from its clients’ reservoirs.

Antero Midstream GP Company Profile

Antero Midstream GP LP, formerly Antero Resources Midstream Management LLC, owns, operates and develops midstream energy infrastructure. The Company’s segments include gathering and processing and water handling and treatment. The gathering and processing segment consist of long-term, fee-based activities including low-pressure gathering, compression, high-pressure gathering, processing, fractionation, and condensate gathering. The Company’s water handling and treatment segment consists of long-term fee based activities including fresh water delivery used in completion activity, and water handling services. The Company’s assets are located both in the southwestern core of the Marcellus Shale in northwest West Virginia and in the core of the Utica Shale in southern Ohio.