Willbros Group (NYSE: WG) and Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:CELP) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Willbros Group and Cypress Energy Partners, L.P., as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Willbros Group | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Willbros Group presently has a consensus target price of $1.35, indicating a potential downside of 38.07%. Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. has a consensus target price of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.84%. Given Cypress Energy Partners, L.P.’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. is more favorable than Willbros Group.
Dividends
Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.4%. Willbros Group does not pay a dividend. Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. pays out 323.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Willbros Group and Cypress Energy Partners, L.P.’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Willbros Group | $730.56 million | 0.19 | -$9.80 million | ($0.73) | -2.99 |
| Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. | $289.25 million | 0.30 | $14.26 million | $0.26 | 28.27 |
Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. has higher revenue, but lower earnings than Willbros Group. Willbros Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cypress Energy Partners, L.P., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
Willbros Group has a beta of 3.22, indicating that its stock price is 222% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. has a beta of 1.39, indicating that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Willbros Group and Cypress Energy Partners, L.P.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Willbros Group | -6.17% | -31.89% | -11.13% |
| Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. | 0.76% | 29.55% | 2.75% |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
57.6% of Willbros Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.7% of Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Willbros Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. beats Willbros Group on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Willbros Group
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.
About Cypress Energy Partners, L.P.
Cypress Energy Partners, L.P. is a limited partnership company, which serves energy companies throughout North America. The Company provides independent pipeline inspection and integrity services to producers and pipeline companies and water and environmental services with salt water disposal (SWD) facilities to the United States onshore oil and natural gas producers and trucking companies. It operates through three segments: Pipeline Inspection Services (PIS), which provides independent inspection services to various energy, public utility and pipeline companies in both the United States and Canada; Integrity Services (IS), which provides hydrostatic testing services to natural gas and petroleum companies and pipeline construction companies of newly constructed and existing natural gas and petroleum pipelines, and Water and Environmental Services (W&ES), which provides SWD services to oil and natural gas producers and trucking companies.
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