National-Oilwell Varco (NYSE:NOV) and Forum Energy Technologies (NYSE:FET) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
95.8% of National-Oilwell Varco shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.7% of Forum Energy Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of National-Oilwell Varco shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 30.0% of Forum Energy Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for National-Oilwell Varco and Forum Energy Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| National-Oilwell Varco | 0 | 11 | 13 | 0 | 2.54 |
| Forum Energy Technologies | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 |
National-Oilwell Varco presently has a consensus target price of $17.9056, indicating a potential upside of 49.34%. Forum Energy Technologies has a consensus target price of $1.5583, indicating a potential upside of 247.30%. Given Forum Energy Technologies' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Forum Energy Technologies is more favorable than National-Oilwell Varco.
Risk & Volatility
National-Oilwell Varco has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its share price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forum Energy Technologies has a beta of 4.17, meaning that its share price is 317% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares National-Oilwell Varco and Forum Energy Technologies' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| National-Oilwell Varco | -35.56% | -2.32% | -1.30% |
| Forum Energy Technologies | -68.74% | -6.29% | -2.88% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares National-Oilwell Varco and Forum Energy Technologies' revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| National-Oilwell Varco | $8.48 billion | 0.55 | $-6,095,000,000.00 | ($0.72) | -16.65 |
| Forum Energy Technologies | $956.50 million | 0.05 | $-567,060,000.00 | ($0.19) | -2.36 |
Forum Energy Technologies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than National-Oilwell Varco. National-Oilwell Varco is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Forum Energy Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
National-Oilwell Varco beats Forum Energy Technologies on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
