Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) Competitors

Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) and Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, community ranking, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Do analysts rate PTEN or HP?

Patterson-UTI Energy currently has a consensus target price of $11.21, indicating a potential upside of 93.58%. Helmerich & Payne has a consensus target price of $31.78, indicating a potential upside of 61.15%. Given Patterson-UTI Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Patterson-UTI Energy is more favorable than Helmerich & Payne.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Patterson-UTI Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69
Helmerich & Payne	2 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.09

Which has more volatility and risk, PTEN or HP?

Patterson-UTI Energy has a beta of 1.6, suggesting that its share price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Helmerich & Payne has a beta of 1, suggesting that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in PTEN or HP?

97.9% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Helmerich & Payne shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Helmerich & Payne shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to PTEN or HP?

In the previous week, Helmerich & Payne had 1 more articles in the media than Patterson-UTI Energy. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Helmerich & Payne and 20 mentions for Patterson-UTI Energy. Patterson-UTI Energy's average media sentiment score of 1.02 beat Helmerich & Payne's score of 0.42 indicating that Patterson-UTI Energy is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Patterson-UTI Energy	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Helmerich & Payne	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has higher earnings & valuation, PTEN or HP?

Helmerich & Payne has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Patterson-UTI Energy. Patterson-UTI Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Helmerich & Payne, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Patterson-UTI Energy	$5.38B	0.42	-$968.03M	-$2.47	-2.34
Helmerich & Payne	$2.76B	0.71	$344.17M	$3.04	6.49

Is PTEN or HP more profitable?

Helmerich & Payne has a net margin of 11.02% compared to Patterson-UTI Energy's net margin of -18.00%. Helmerich & Payne's return on equity of 11.31% beat Patterson-UTI Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Patterson-UTI Energy	-18.00%	0.81%	0.51%
Helmerich & Payne	11.02%	11.31%	6.35%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PTEN or HP?

Patterson-UTI Energy received 117 more outperform votes than Helmerich & Payne when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.26% of users gave Patterson-UTI Energy an outperform vote while only 54.02% of users gave Helmerich & Payne an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Patterson-UTI Energy	Outperform Votes 815 62.26%	Underperform Votes 494 37.74%
Helmerich & Payne	Outperform Votes 698 54.02%	Underperform Votes 594 45.98%

Is PTEN or HP a better dividend stock?

Patterson-UTI Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Helmerich & Payne pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Patterson-UTI Energy pays out -13.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Helmerich & Payne pays out 32.9% 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. Patterson-UTI Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Patterson-UTI Energy beats Helmerich & Payne on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.