Tidewater (NYSE:TDW) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) Critical Contrast

Tidewater (NYSE:TDW) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Tidewater and Occidental Petroleum”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tidewater	$1.35 billion	1.77	$180.66 million	$3.86	12.50
Occidental Petroleum	$26.88 billion	1.50	$3.06 billion	$1.69	24.21

Occidental Petroleum has higher revenue and earnings than Tidewater. Tidewater is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Occidental Petroleum, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Tidewater and Occidental Petroleum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tidewater	14.62%	16.74%	9.06%
Occidental Petroleum	8.79%	13.78%	4.35%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.1% of Tidewater shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.7% of Occidental Petroleum shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.6% of Tidewater shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Occidental Petroleum shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Tidewater has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Occidental Petroleum has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Tidewater and Occidental Petroleum, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tidewater	0	6	2	0	2.25
Occidental Petroleum	3	15	6	1	2.20

Tidewater presently has a consensus price target of $69.00, indicating a potential upside of 42.98%. Occidental Petroleum has a consensus price target of $52.43, indicating a potential upside of 28.16%. Given Tidewater’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Tidewater is more favorable than Occidental Petroleum.

Summary

Tidewater beats Occidental Petroleum on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tidewater

Tidewater Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore support vessels and marine support services to the offshore energy industry through the operation of a fleet of marine service vessels worldwide. It provides services in support of offshore oil and gas exploration, field development, and production, as well as windfarm development and maintenance, including towing of and anchor handling for mobile offshore drilling units; transporting supplies and personnel necessary to sustain drilling, workover, and production activities; offshore construction, and seismic and subsea support; geotechnical survey support for windfarm construction; and various specialized services, such as pipe and cable laying. The company operates anchor handling towing supply vessels, platform supply vessels, crew boats, utility vessels, and offshore tugs. The company serves integrated and independent oil and gas exploration, field development, and production companies; mid-sized and smaller independent exploration and production companies; foreign government-owned or government-controlled organizations, and other related companies; offshore drilling contractors; and other companies, such as offshore construction, windfarm development, diving, and well stimulation companies. Tidewater Inc. was incorporated in 1956 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing. The company's Oil and Gas segment explores for, develops, and produces oil and condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas. Its Chemical segment manufactures and markets basic chemicals, including chlorine, caustic soda, chlorinated organics, potassium chemicals, ethylene dichloride, chlorinated isocyanurates, sodium silicates, and calcium chloride; and vinyls comprising vinyl chloride monomer, polyvinyl chloride, and ethylene. The Midstream and Marketing segment gathers, processes, transports, stores, purchases, and markets oil, condensate, NGLs, natural gas, carbon dioxide, and power. This segment also invests in entities. Occidental Petroleum Corporation was founded in 1920 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.