USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC) vs. Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) Head-To-Head Survey

Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) and USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, valuation and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Nabors Industries and USA Compression Partners”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nabors Industries	$3.21 billion	0.40	$286.62 million	$13.44	6.03
USA Compression Partners	$998.10 million	3.64	$111.32 million	$1.06	23.63

Nabors Industries has higher revenue and earnings than USA Compression Partners. Nabors Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than USA Compression Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Nabors Industries and USA Compression Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nabors Industries	0	6	2	0	2.25
USA Compression Partners	0	5	0	1	2.33

Nabors Industries currently has a consensus target price of $103.43, indicating a potential upside of 27.72%. USA Compression Partners has a consensus target price of $29.50, indicating a potential upside of 17.76%. Given Nabors Industries’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Nabors Industries is more favorable than USA Compression Partners.

Profitability

This table compares Nabors Industries and USA Compression Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nabors Industries	7.64%	-7.06%	-1.45%
USA Compression Partners	12.43%	179.77%	4.83%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

81.9% of Nabors Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.8% of USA Compression Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of Nabors Industries shares 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.

Volatility and Risk

Nabors Industries has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, USA Compression Partners has a beta of 0.28, suggesting that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Nabors Industries beats USA Compression Partners on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nabors Industries

Nabors Industries Ltd. provides drilling and drilling-related services for land-based and offshore oil and natural gas wells in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: U.S. Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It provides tubular running services, including casing and tubing running, and torque monitoring; managed pressure drilling services; and drilling-bit steering systems and rig instrumentation software. The company also offers drilling systems comprising ROCKit, a directional steering control system; SmartNAV, a collaborative guidance and advisory platform; SmartSLIDE, a directional steering control system; and RigCLOUD, a digital infrastructure to integrate applications to deliver real-time insight into operations across the rig fleet. In addition, it operates a fleet of land-based drilling rigs and marketed platforms rigs; manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and other drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools; and provides aftermarket sales and services for the installed base of its equipment. Nabors Industries Ltd. was founded in 1952 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About USA Compression Partners

USA Compression Partners, LP provides compression services under term contracts with customers in the natural gas and crude oil industries in the United States. The company engineers, designs, operates, services, and repairs its compression units; and maintains related support inventory and equipment. It also provides compression services in various shale plays, including the Utica, Marcellus, Permian Basin, Delaware Basin, Eagle Ford, Mississippi Lime, Granite Wash, Woodford, Barnett, Haynesville, Niobrara, and Fayetteville shales. As of December 31, 2017, the company had approximately 1,799,781 horsepower in its fleet. It serves oil companies; and independent producers, processors, gatherers, and transporters of natural gas and crude oil. USA Compression GP, LLC operates as the general partner of USA Compression Partners, LP. The company was formerly known as Compression Holdings, LP, and changed its name to USA Compression Partners, LP in June 2011. USA Compression Partners, LP was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.