Comparing WBI (NYSE:WBI) & Transocean (NYSE:RIG)

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) and WBI (NYSE:WBI) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Transocean and WBI, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Transocean	3	5	3	1	2.17
WBI	0	2	4	2	3.00

Transocean currently has a consensus price target of $6.61, indicating a potential upside of 24.08%. WBI has a consensus price target of $37.00, indicating a potential upside of 35.53%. Given WBI’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe WBI is more favorable than Transocean.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Transocean and WBI”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Transocean	$3.96 billion	1.50	-$2.92 billion	$0.14	38.04
WBI	$525.55 million	6.41	$11.89 million	$0.20	136.50

WBI has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Transocean. Transocean is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WBI, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Transocean has a beta of 1.44, meaning that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WBI has a beta of 0.14, meaning that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.7% of Transocean shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.7% of Transocean shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 50.6% of WBI shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Transocean and WBI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Transocean	7.25%	1.84%	1.00%
WBI	1.19%	1.19%	0.56%

Summary

WBI beats Transocean on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Transocean

Transocean Ltd. is an offshore contract drilling company that provides drilling services to oil and gas companies around the world. Its work focuses on offshore exploration and development, particularly in deepwater and harsh-environment locations. The company owns and operates a fleet of offshore drilling rigs, including drillships and semisubmersible rigs. It contracts these rigs to customers and provides the crews and related services needed to conduct offshore drilling operations. Transocean serves customers across multiple offshore regions worldwide.

About WBI

WaterBridge Infrastructure LLC is an integrated, pure-play water infrastructure company. WaterBridge Infrastructure LLC is based in HOUSTON.