Liberty Energy (LBRT) versus Its Peers Critical Review

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) is one of 177 publicly-traded companies in the “Energy Equipment & Services” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Liberty Energy to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Liberty Energy and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Liberty Energy	0	6	8	0	2.57
Liberty Energy Competitors	1679	6840	8629	490	2.45

Liberty Energy presently has a consensus target price of $26.42, suggesting a potential upside of 107.92%. As a group, “Energy Equipment & Services” companies have a potential upside of 36.01%. Given Liberty Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Liberty Energy is more favorable than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Liberty Energy and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Liberty Energy	0.91%	2.13%	0.99%
Liberty Energy Competitors	-10.65%	7.48%	1.47%

Risk & Volatility

Liberty Energy has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liberty Energy’s competitors have a beta of 0.82, suggesting that their average share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Liberty Energy and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Liberty Energy	$4.01 billion	$147.87 million	52.94
Liberty Energy Competitors	$3.23 billion	$29.73 million	12.68

Liberty Energy has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Liberty Energy is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Liberty Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Liberty Energy pays out 150.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Energy Equipment & Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.0% and pay out 54.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Liberty Energy has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Liberty Energy lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.2% of Liberty Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.9% of shares of all “Energy Equipment & Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Liberty Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.3% of shares of all “Energy Equipment & Services” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Liberty Energy beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Liberty Energy

Liberty Energy Inc. is a Denver-based oilfield services company that supports onshore oil and natural gas producers, primarily in the United States. Founded in 2011 as Liberty Oilfield Services, the company adopted the Liberty Energy name in 2022. Its core business is hydraulic fracturing, a well-completion technique used to extract oil and natural gas. Liberty also provides related services and equipment, including wireline operations, proppant and logistics solutions, and technologies designed to support wellsite operations.