Head to Head Review: Smart Sand (SND) vs. Its Peers

Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) is one of 177 publicly-traded companies in the “Energy Equipment & Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Smart Sand to similar businesses based on the strength of its valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

35.2% of Smart Sand shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.0% of shares of all “Energy Equipment & Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 33.5% of Smart Sand shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.3% of shares of all “Energy Equipment & Services” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Smart Sand and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smart Sand	$330.15 million	$1.35 million	17.50
Smart Sand Competitors	$3.23 billion	$29.73 million	17.59

Smart Sand’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Smart Sand. Smart Sand is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Smart Sand and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smart Sand	2.71%	4.41%	3.07%
Smart Sand Competitors	-10.63%	7.43%	1.47%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Smart Sand and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smart Sand	0	0	1	0	3.00
Smart Sand Competitors	1667	6817	8605	486	2.45

As a group, “Energy Equipment & Services” companies have a potential upside of 35.87%. Given Smart Sand’s peers higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Smart Sand has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Volatility & Risk

Smart Sand has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smart Sand’s peers have a beta of 0.83, meaning that their average stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Smart Sand peers beat Smart Sand on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

About Smart Sand

Smart Sand, Inc., an integrated frac and industrial sand supply and services company, engages in the excavation, processing, and sale of sands or proppant for use in hydraulic fracturing operations in the oil and gas industry in the United States. It also provides proppant logistics services; and wellsite storage solutions through SmartSystems products and services. The company sells its products primarily to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, oilfield service companies, and industrial manufacturers. Smart Sand, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.