Head to Head Comparison: Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) versus Bristow Group (NYSE:VTOL)

Bristow Group (NYSE:VTOL) and Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Bristow Group and Patterson-UTI Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bristow Group	0	1	3	0	2.75
Patterson-UTI Energy	1	5	9	0	2.53

Bristow Group currently has a consensus price target of $60.00, suggesting a potential upside of 47.57%. Patterson-UTI Energy has a consensus price target of $13.25, suggesting a potential upside of 21.34%. Given Bristow Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Bristow Group is more favorable than Patterson-UTI Energy.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.3% of Bristow Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.9% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of Bristow Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Bristow Group pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Patterson-UTI Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Bristow Group pays out 14.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Patterson-UTI Energy pays out -173.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Patterson-UTI Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Bristow Group and Patterson-UTI Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bristow Group	6.66%	9.82%	4.45%
Patterson-UTI Energy	-1.92%	-1.68%	-0.98%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Bristow Group and Patterson-UTI Energy”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bristow Group	$1.49 billion	0.81	$129.07 million	$3.47	11.72
Patterson-UTI Energy	$4.67 billion	0.89	-$93.64 million	($0.23)	-47.48

Bristow Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Patterson-UTI Energy. Patterson-UTI Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bristow Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Bristow Group has a beta of 1.19, meaning that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Patterson-UTI Energy has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Bristow Group beats Patterson-UTI Energy on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bristow Group

Bristow Group Inc. provides vertical flight solutions. The company primarily offers aviation services to integrated, national, and independent offshore energy companies and government agencies. It also provides personnel transportation, search and rescue, medevac, ad hoc helicopter, fixed wing transportation, unmanned systems, and ad-hoc helicopter services, as well as logistical and maintenance support, training services, and flight and maintenance crews. The company has a fleet of aircrafts. It has customers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dutch Caribbean, the Falkland Islands, India, Ireland, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad, the United Kingdom, and United States. Bristow Group Inc. is based in Houston, Texas.

About Patterson-UTI Energy

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of contract drilling services to oil and natural gas operators in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Drilling Services, Completion Services, and Drilling Products. The Contract Drilling Services segment provides contract and directional drilling services in onshore oil and natural gas basins, as well as engages in the service and re-certification of equipment for drilling contractors, and provision of electrical controls and automation to the energy, marine and mining industries. The Completion Services segment offers services for hydraulic fracturing, wireline and pumping, completion support, and cementing; and involved in the power solutions natural gas fueling, and logistics and storage businesses. The Drilling Products segment manufactures and distributes drill bits for energy and mining markets. It also provides software and services, such as MWD Survey FDIR, a data analytics technology to analyze MWD survey data in real-time and identify the position of a well; HiFi Nav, which enhances FDIR by targeting improved vertical placement of the directional well within the reservoir; HiFi Guidance, utilizes trajectory optimization to determine optimal steering recommendations and placement within the reservoir; and rents oilfield tools. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.