Comparing Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE:KGS) & Vantage Drilling (OTCMKTS:VTGDF)

Vantage Drilling (OTCMKTS:VTGDF) and Kodiak Gas Services (NYSE:KGS) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Vantage Drilling has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kodiak Gas Services has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Vantage Drilling and Kodiak Gas Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vantage Drilling	$138.25 million	N/A	$40.34 million	$4.40	N/A
Kodiak Gas Services	$1.31 billion	3.85	$80.52 million	$0.74	76.59

Kodiak Gas Services has higher revenue and earnings than Vantage Drilling. Vantage Drilling is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kodiak Gas Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Vantage Drilling and Kodiak Gas Services, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vantage Drilling	0	0	0	0	0.00
Kodiak Gas Services	0	2	10	0	2.83

Kodiak Gas Services has a consensus target price of $79.33, indicating a potential upside of 39.97%. Given Kodiak Gas Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Kodiak Gas Services is more favorable than Vantage Drilling.

Profitability

This table compares Vantage Drilling and Kodiak Gas Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vantage Drilling	38.80%	-9.97%	-6.50%
Kodiak Gas Services	5.13%	13.12%	3.72%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

24.9% of Kodiak Gas Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.5% of Vantage Drilling shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Kodiak Gas Services shares are owned by 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.

Summary

Kodiak Gas Services beats Vantage Drilling on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vantage Drilling

Vantage Drilling Company is in liquidation. Previously, the company was engaged in the provision of offshore contract drilling services for multinational oil and natural gas companies, government owned oil and natural gas companies, and independent oil and natural gas producers in the United States and internationally. Vantage Drilling Company was founded in 2007 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Kodiak Gas Services

Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. operates contract compression infrastructure for customers in the oil and gas industry in the United States. It operates in two segments, Compression Operations and Other Services. The Compression Operations segment operates company-owned and customer-owned compression infrastructure to enable the production, gathering, and transportation of natural gas and oil. The Other Services segment provides a range of contract services, including station construction, maintenance and overhaul, and other ancillary time and material-based offerings. The company was formerly known as Frontier TopCo, Inc. Kodiak Gas Services, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.