Critical Contrast: Forum Energy Technologies (NYSE:FET) & Solaris Energy Infrastructure (NASDAQ:SEI)

Solaris Energy Infrastructure (NASDAQ:SEI) and Forum Energy Technologies (NYSE:FET) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Solaris Energy Infrastructure and Forum Energy Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Solaris Energy Infrastructure	4.80%	6.66%	4.12%
Forum Energy Technologies	-6.07%	-2.00%	-0.92%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Solaris Energy Infrastructure and Forum Energy Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Solaris Energy Infrastructure	0	0	2	0	3.00
Forum Energy Technologies	0	0	0	0	0.00

Solaris Energy Infrastructure presently has a consensus price target of $30.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.28%. Given Solaris Energy Infrastructure’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Solaris Energy Infrastructure is more favorable than Forum Energy Technologies.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.4% of Solaris Energy Infrastructure shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.6% of Forum Energy Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 34.7% of Solaris Energy Infrastructure shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Forum Energy Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Solaris Energy Infrastructure has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forum Energy Technologies has a beta of 2.4, indicating that its share price is 140% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Solaris Energy Infrastructure and Forum Energy Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Solaris Energy Infrastructure	$280.14 million	7.10	$24.34 million	$0.44	67.32
Forum Energy Technologies	$800.61 million	0.25	-$18.88 million	($4.23)	-3.91

Solaris Energy Infrastructure has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Forum Energy Technologies. Forum Energy Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Solaris Energy Infrastructure, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Solaris Energy Infrastructure beats Forum Energy Technologies on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Solaris Energy Infrastructure

Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure, Inc. designs and manufactures specialized equipment for oil and natural gas operators in the United States. The company provides mobile proppant and fluid management systems, as well as last mile logistics management services. It offers systems, mobilization, and last mile logistics services that are used to unload, store, and deliver proppant, water and/or chemicals at oil and natural gas well sites. The company is also involved in the transloading and storage of proppant or railcars at its transloading facility. In addition, it develops Railtronix, an inventory management software; and all-electric equipment that automates the low pressure section of oil and gas well completion sites. The company serves exploration and production, and oilfield services industries. Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure, Inc. was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Forum Energy Technologies

Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes products serving the oil, natural gas, industrial, and renewable energy industries in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Drilling & Downhole, Completions, and Production. The Drilling & Downhole segment designs, manufactures, and supplies products, and provides related services to the drilling, well construction, artificial lift, and subsea energy construction and services markets, including applications in oil and natural gas, renewable energy, defense, and communications. This segment offers drilling technologies consisting of capital equipment and a line of products consumed in the drilling process; well construction casing and cementing equipment, and products for artificial lift equipment and cables; and subsea remotely operated vehicles and trenchers, submarine rescue vehicles, specialty components and tools, and technical services. The Completions segment offers hydraulic fracturing pumps, cooling systems, high-pressure flexible hoses, and flow iron for pressure pumping markets; wireline cable and pressure control equipment for well completion and intervention service markets; and coiled tubing strings and coiled line pipe and related services. The Production segment designs, manufactures, and supplies products, and provides related equipment and services for production and infrastructure markets. This segment offers engineered process systems, production equipment, specialty separation equipment, and various industrial valves for oil and natural gas customers, power generation, renewable energy, and other general industrial applications. The company was formerly known as Forum Oilfield Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. in August 2010. Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.