Ensign Energy Services (OTCMKTS:ESVIF) vs. Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) Critical Analysis

Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) and Ensign Energy Services (OTCMKTS:ESVIF) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

81.9% of Nabors Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.8% of Ensign Energy Services shares are held by institutional investors. 7.3% of Nabors Industries shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Nabors Industries and Ensign Energy Services’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nabors Industries	$2.93 billion	0.30	-$11.78 million	($13.81)	-6.00
Ensign Energy Services	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.84	2.13

Ensign Energy Services has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Nabors Industries. Nabors Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ensign Energy Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Nabors Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Ensign Energy Services pays an annual dividend of $0.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 26.2%. Nabors Industries pays out -0.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ensign Energy Services pays out 56.0% 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.

Profitability

This table compares Nabors Industries and Ensign Energy Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nabors Industries	-4.73%	-28.10%	-3.08%
Ensign Energy Services	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Nabors Industries and Ensign Energy Services, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nabors Industries	0	4	2	0	2.33
Ensign Energy Services	0	0	0	0	N/A

Nabors Industries presently has a consensus target price of $108.50, indicating a potential upside of 31.02%. Given Nabors Industries’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Nabors Industries is more favorable than Ensign Energy Services.

About Nabors Industries

Nabors Industries Ltd. provides drilling and drilling-related services for land-based and offshore oil and natural gas wells in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: U.S. Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It provides tubular running services, including casing and tubing running, and torque monitoring; managed pressure drilling services; and drilling-bit steering systems and rig instrumentation software. The company also offers drilling systems comprising ROCKit, a directional steering control system; SmartNAV, a collaborative guidance and advisory platform; SmartSLIDE, a directional steering control system; and RigCLOUD, a digital infrastructure to integrate applications to deliver real-time insight into operations across the rig fleet. In addition, it operates a fleet of land-based drilling rigs and marketed platforms rigs; manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and other drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools; and provides aftermarket sales and services for the installed base of its equipment. Nabors Industries Ltd. was founded in 1952 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About Ensign Energy Services

Ensign Energy Services Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides oilfield services to the crude oil and natural gas industries in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company offers shallow, intermediate, and deep well drilling, as well as specialized drilling services, including horizontal, underbalanced, horizontal re-entry, and slant drilling for steam assisted gravity drainage applications; and equipment and services. It provides coring and oil sands drilling services to the mining, and oil and natural gas industries; directional drilling services; equipment rental services; shallow to deep well services, such as completions, abandonments, production workovers, and bottom hole pump changes for oil and natural gas producers; and interactive pressure drilling services with self-contained systems comprising nitrogen generation and compression equipment, and surface control systems. In addition, the company rents drill strings, loaders, tanks, pumps, rig mattings, blow-out preventers, waste bins, and wastewater treatment equipment for the drilling and completions segments of the oilfield industry. Further, it offers transportation and well servicing services. The company operates land drilling rigs, specialty coring rigs, and well servicing rigs. Ensign Energy Services Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.