Head to Head Survey: Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) and Subsea 7 (OTC:SUBCY)

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) and Subsea 7 (OTC:SUBCY) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Natural Gas Services Group and Subsea 7, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Natural Gas Services Group	0	0	1	1	3.50
Subsea 7	0	1	0	0	2.00

Natural Gas Services Group presently has a consensus price target of $26.50, indicating a potential upside of 3.94%. Given Natural Gas Services Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Natural Gas Services Group is more favorable than Subsea 7.

Profitability

This table compares Natural Gas Services Group and Subsea 7’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Natural Gas Services Group	10.55%	6.60%	3.29%
Subsea 7	2.46%	3.72%	1.98%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

65.6% of Natural Gas Services Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Subsea 7 shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of Natural Gas Services Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Subsea 7 shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Natural Gas Services Group and Subsea 7″s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Natural Gas Services Group	$152.31 million	2.09	$4.75 million	$1.28	19.92
Subsea 7	$5.97 billion	0.80	$15.40 million	$0.54	29.22

Subsea 7 has higher revenue and earnings than Natural Gas Services Group. Natural Gas Services Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Subsea 7, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Natural Gas Services Group has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Subsea 7 has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its stock price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Natural Gas Services Group beats Subsea 7 on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Natural Gas Services Group

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. provides natural gas compression equipment and services to the energy industry in the United States. It engineers and fabricates, operates, rents, and maintains natural gas compressors for oil and natural gas production and plant facilities. It also designs, fabricates, and assembles compressor units for rental or sale; and designs, manufactures, and sells a line of reciprocating natural gas compressor frames, cylinders, and parts. In addition, the company offers flare stacks and related ignition and control devices for the onshore and offshore incineration of gas compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gases. Further, it provides aftermarket services for its compressor and flare sales business; and exchange and rebuild program for small horsepower screw compressors. It markets its products to exploration and production companies that utilize compressor units for artificial lift applications; and oil and natural gas exploration and production companies. Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Midland, Texas.

About Subsea 7

Subsea 7 S.A. delivers offshore projects and services for the energy industry worldwide. It provides subsea field development products and services, including project management, design and engineering, procurement, fabrication, survey, installation, and commissioning of production facilities on the seabed and the tie-back of its facilities to fixed or floating platforms or to the shore. The company also offers engineering, procurement, commissioning, and installation of subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines; inspection, repair, maintenance, remote intervention, and integrity management of subsea infrastructure services; conventional services comprising fabrication, installation, extension, and refurbishment of fixed and floating platforms and associated pipelines in shallow water; and hook-up services. In addition, it operates heavy lifting operations and heavy transportation services for renewables structures; and installs offshore wind turbine foundations, as well as engages in the decommissioning of redundant offshore structures. Further, the company provides remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and tooling services to support exploration and production activities, as well as engineering and advisory services for customers in the oil and gas, renewables, and utilities industries. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.