Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) vs. Transocean (NYSE:RIG) Head-To-Head Analysis

Transocean (NYSE:RIG) and Smart Sand (NASDAQ:SND) are both energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.7% of Transocean shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.2% of Smart Sand shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.7% of Transocean shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 33.5% of Smart Sand shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Transocean and Smart Sand, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Transocean	3	4	3	2	2.33
Smart Sand	0	0	1	0	3.00

Transocean currently has a consensus target price of $6.68, indicating a potential upside of 27.33%. Given Transocean’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Transocean is more favorable than Smart Sand.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Transocean and Smart Sand”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Transocean	$4.03 billion	1.45	-$2.92 billion	$0.14	37.46
Smart Sand	$386.99 million	0.39	$1.35 million	$0.26	13.77

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

Profitability

This table compares Transocean and Smart Sand’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%
Smart Sand	2.71%	4.41%	3.07%

Risk & Volatility

Transocean has a beta of 1.44, meaning that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smart Sand has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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

About Transocean

Transocean Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells worldwide. It contracts mobile offshore drilling rigs, related equipment, and work crews to drill oil and gas wells. The company operates a fleet of mobile offshore drilling units, consisting of ultra-deepwater floaters and harsh environment floaters. It serves integrated energy companies, government-owned or government-controlled energy companies, and other independent energy companies. The company was founded in 1926 and is based in Steinhausen, Switzerland.

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.