KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) & Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) Head to Head Survey

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) and Ultrapar Participacoes (NYSE:UGP) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Dividends

KNOT Offshore Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Ultrapar Participacoes pays an annual dividend of $0.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. KNOT Offshore Partners pays out 68.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ultrapar Participacoes pays out 50.8% 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. Ultrapar Participacoes is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares KNOT Offshore Partners and Ultrapar Participacoes’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KNOT Offshore Partners	3.90%	5.73%	1.84%
Ultrapar Participacoes	2.28%	18.84%	7.17%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for KNOT Offshore Partners and Ultrapar Participacoes, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KNOT Offshore Partners	0	3	1	1	2.60
Ultrapar Participacoes	0	3	3	1	2.71

KNOT Offshore Partners currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.94%. Ultrapar Participacoes has a consensus target price of $6.54, indicating a potential downside of 12.34%. Given KNOT Offshore Partners’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe KNOT Offshore Partners is more favorable than Ultrapar Participacoes.

Volatility & Risk

KNOT Offshore Partners has a beta of -0.05, indicating that its share price is 105% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ultrapar Participacoes has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

26.8% of KNOT Offshore Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.6% of Ultrapar Participacoes shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Ultrapar Participacoes shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares KNOT Offshore Partners and Ultrapar Participacoes”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
KNOT Offshore Partners	$364.44 million	1.03	$22.96 million	$0.44	25.47
Ultrapar Participacoes	$25.51 billion	0.33	$439.48 million	$0.61	12.23

Ultrapar Participacoes has higher revenue and earnings than KNOT Offshore Partners. Ultrapar Participacoes is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than KNOT Offshore Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Ultrapar Participacoes beats KNOT Offshore Partners on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About KNOT Offshore Partners

KNOT Offshore Partners LP acquires, owns, and operates shuttle tankers under long-term charters in the North Sea and Brazil. The company provides loading, transportation, and discharge of crude oil under time charters and bareboat charters. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Aberdeen, the United Kingdom.

About Ultrapar Participacoes

Ultrapar Participações S.A., through its subsidiaries, operates in the energy and infrastructure business in Brazil. The company distributes liquefied petroleum gas to residential, commercial, and industrial consumers, in addition to renewable electricity and compressed natural gas. It also operates in the distribution and marketing of gasoline, ethanol, diesel, fuel oil, kerosene, natural gas for vehicles, and lubricants; and holds AmPm convenience stores and provides JetOil lubricant services. In addition, the company operates liquid bulk storage terminals. Further, it offers digital payments services, combining the abastece aí app and the loyalty program Km de Vantagens. It also exports its products and services to customers in Europe, Singapore, the United States, Canada, other Latin American countries, and internationally. The company was founded in 1937 and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.