Contrasting Bristow Group (NYSE:VTOL) & Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR)

Bristow Group (NYSE:VTOL) and Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and profitability.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.3% of Bristow Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.1% of Baker Hughes shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of Bristow Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Baker Hughes shares are held by company 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Bristow Group and Baker Hughes, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bristow Group	0	1	3	0	2.75
Baker Hughes	0	3	16	2	2.95

Bristow Group currently has a consensus target price of $60.00, indicating a potential upside of 42.84%. Baker Hughes has a consensus target price of $71.14, indicating a potential upside of 28.81%. Given Bristow Group’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Bristow Group is more favorable than Baker Hughes.

Profitability

This table compares Bristow Group and Baker Hughes’ 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%
Baker Hughes	10.08%	13.55%	5.27%

Dividends

Bristow Group pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Baker Hughes pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Bristow Group pays out 14.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Baker Hughes pays out 31.7% 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. Baker Hughes has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Baker Hughes is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Bristow Group has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Baker Hughes has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Bristow Group and Baker Hughes”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bristow Group	$1.49 billion	0.84	$129.07 million	$3.47	12.10
Baker Hughes	$28.74 billion	1.91	$2.59 billion	$2.90	19.04

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

Summary

Baker Hughes beats Bristow Group on 12 of the 18 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 Baker Hughes

Baker Hughes Company provides a portfolio of technologies and services to energy and industrial value chain worldwide. The company operates through Oilfield Services & Equipment (OFSE) and Industrial & Energy Technology (IET) segments. The OFSE segment designs and manufactures products and provides related services, including exploration, appraisal, development, production, rejuvenation, and decommissioning for onshore and offshore oilfield operations. This segment also provides drilling services, drill bits, and drilling and completions fluids; completions, intervention, measurements, pressure pumping, and wireline services; artificial lift systems, and oilfield and industrial chemicals; subsea projects and services, flexible pipe systems, and surface pressure control systems; and integrated well services and solutions. It serves oil and natural gas companies; the United States and international independent oil and natural gas companies; national or state-owned oil companies; engineering, procurement, and construction contractors; geothermal companies; and other oilfield service companies. The IET segment provides gas technology equipment, including drivers, driven equipment, flow control, and turnkey solutions for the mechanical-drive, compression, and power-generation applications; and energy sectors, such as oil and gas, LNG operations, petrochemical, and carbon solutions. This segment also provides rack-based vibration monitoring equipment and sensors; integrated asset performance management products; inspection services; pumps, valves, and gears; precision sensors and instrumentation, and condition monitoring solutions. It serves upstream, midstream, downstream, onshore, offshore, and small and large scale customers. The company was formerly known as Baker Hughes, a GE company and changed its name to Baker Hughes Company in October 2019. Baker Hughes Company was incorporated in 2016 and is based in Houston, Texas.