Contrasting Western Energy Services (OTCMKTS:WEEEF) and KLX Energy Services (NASDAQ:KLXE)

Western Energy Services (OTCMKTS:WEEEF) and KLX Energy Services (NASDAQ:KLXE) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Western Energy Services and KLX Energy Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Western Energy Services	-12.75%	-0.39%	-0.27%
KLX Energy Services	-11.67%	N/A	-19.58%

Volatility and Risk

Western Energy Services has a beta of 0.21, indicating that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KLX Energy Services has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

42.7% of KLX Energy Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 50.0% of Western Energy Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of KLX Energy Services shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Western Energy Services and KLX Energy Services, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Western Energy Services	0	0	0	0	0.00
KLX Energy Services	1	1	0	0	1.50

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Western Energy Services and KLX Energy Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Western Energy Services	$155.66 million	0.50	-$18.61 million	($0.56)	-4.11
KLX Energy Services	$636.60 million	0.08	-$77.10 million	($3.79)	-0.63

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

Summary

KLX Energy Services beats Western Energy Services on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Western Energy Services

Western Energy Services Corp. operates as an oilfield service company in Canada and the United States. It operates through Contract Drilling and Production Services segments. The Contract Drilling segment provides contract drilling services using drilling rigs and auxiliary equipment. The Production Services segment offers well servicing rig and related equipment, as well as rental equipment services. Western Energy Services Corp. is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

About KLX Energy Services

KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. provides drilling, completions, production, and well intervention services and products to the onshore oil and gas producing regions of the United States. The company operates through three segments: Southwest, Rocky Mountains, and Northeast/Mid-Con. It provides directional drilling services; downhole navigational and rental tools businesses and support services, including well planning, site supervision, accommodation rentals, and other drilling rentals; and various technologies, including gamma ray, azimuthal gamma ray, real-time continuous inclination and azimuth, rotary steerable, pressure-while-drilling, mode shifting, stick-slip and destructive dynamics, dynamic sequencing and real-time shock, and vibration modules. The company also offers coiled tubing and nitrogen services; wireline services, including pump down perforating, logging, and pipe recover; pressure control products and services; wellhead and hydraulic fracturing rental products and services; flowback and testing services; thru-tubing technologies and services; rig assist snubbing services; cementing products and services; acidizing and pressure pumping services; and downhole completion tools, such as toe sleeves, wet shoe cementing bypass subs, composite plugs, dissolvable plugs, liner hangers, stage cementing tools, inflatables, float and casing equipment, and retrievable completion tools. In addition, it provides production services comprising maintenance-related intervention services; production blow out preventers; mechanical wireline services; slick line services; hydro-testing services; premium tubulars; and other specialized production tools. Further, the company provides intervention services consisting of technicians and equipment that are focused on providing customers engineered solutions to downhole complications. KLX Energy Services Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.