Head to Head Contrast: Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE:KGS) & Tidewater (NYSE:TDW)

Tidewater (NYSE:TDW) and Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE:KGS) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Tidewater and Kodiak Gas Services”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	3.26	$334.66 million	$4.94	17.92
Kodiak Gas Services	$1.31 billion	4.37	$80.52 million	$0.84	67.26

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Tidewater and Kodiak Gas Services, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tidewater	0	6	3	1	2.50
Kodiak Gas Services	0	2	10	0	2.83

Tidewater currently has a consensus price target of $98.25, indicating a potential upside of 10.99%. Kodiak Gas Services has a consensus price target of $78.89, indicating a potential upside of 39.63%. Given Kodiak Gas Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Kodiak Gas Services is more favorable than Tidewater.

Risk and Volatility

Tidewater has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kodiak Gas Services has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Tidewater and Kodiak Gas Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tidewater	18.34%	5.36%	3.05%
Kodiak Gas Services	5.77%	11.92%	3.70%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

95.1% of Tidewater shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.9% of Kodiak Gas Services shares are held by institutional investors. 5.9% of Tidewater shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Kodiak Gas Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Kodiak Gas Services beats Tidewater on 8 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 Kodiak Gas Services

Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. operates contract compression infrastructure for customers in the oil and gas industry in the United States. It operates in two segments, Compression Operations and Other Services. The Compression Operations segment operates company-owned and customer-owned compression infrastructure to enable the production, gathering, and transportation of natural gas and oil. The Other Services segment provides a range of contract services, including station construction, maintenance and overhaul, and other ancillary time and material-based offerings. The company was formerly known as Frontier TopCo, Inc. Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.