Cactus (WHD) Competitors

Cactus (NYSE:WHD) and Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:PTEN) are both mid-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Is WHD or PTEN a better dividend stock?

Cactus pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Patterson-UTI Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. Cactus pays out 18.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Patterson-UTI Energy pays out -12.3% 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. Cactus has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Patterson-UTI Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in WHD or PTEN?

85.1% of Cactus shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.9% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.8% of Cactus shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Patterson-UTI Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, WHD or PTEN?

Cactus has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Patterson-UTI Energy. Patterson-UTI Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cactus, 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
Cactus	$1.13B	3.20	$185.41M	$2.81	16.11
Patterson-UTI Energy	$5.38B	0.45	-$968.03M	-$2.60	-2.43

Do analysts prefer WHD or PTEN?

Cactus currently has a consensus price target of $52.33, suggesting a potential upside of 15.60%. Patterson-UTI Energy has a consensus price target of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 50.55%. Given Patterson-UTI Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Patterson-UTI Energy is more favorable than Cactus.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cactus	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.17
Patterson-UTI Energy	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58

Is WHD or PTEN more profitable?

Cactus has a net margin of 16.78% compared to Patterson-UTI Energy's net margin of -19.78%. Cactus' return on equity of 18.99% beat Patterson-UTI Energy's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cactus	16.78%	18.99%	13.76%
Patterson-UTI Energy	-19.78%	-0.70%	-0.43%

Does the media prefer WHD or PTEN?

In the previous week, Patterson-UTI Energy had 14 more articles in the media than Cactus. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Patterson-UTI Energy and 4 mentions for Cactus. Cactus' average media sentiment score of 1.02 beat Patterson-UTI Energy's score of 0.37 indicating that Cactus is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cactus	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Patterson-UTI Energy	7 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more risk & volatility, WHD or PTEN?

Cactus has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Patterson-UTI Energy has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cactus beats Patterson-UTI Energy on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.