Reviewing SEACOR Marine (NYSE:SMHI) & KLX Energy Services (NASDAQ:KLXE)

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KLX Energy Services	-9.71%	N/A	-18.46%
SEACOR Marine	-17.55%	-14.51%	-5.74%

Volatility and Risk

KLX Energy Services has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SEACOR Marine has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for KLX Energy Services and SEACOR Marine, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KLX Energy Services	1	1	0	0	1.50
SEACOR Marine	1	1	1	0	2.00

SEACOR Marine has a consensus price target of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.92%. Given SEACOR Marine’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe SEACOR Marine is more favorable than KLX Energy Services.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

42.7% of KLX Energy Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.1% of SEACOR Marine shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of KLX Energy Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 16.8% of SEACOR Marine shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares KLX Energy Services and SEACOR Marine”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
KLX Energy Services	$636.60 million	0.03	-$77.10 million	($3.16)	-0.32
SEACOR Marine	$227.83 million	1.09	-$27.84 million	($1.42)	-6.47

SEACOR Marine has lower revenue, but higher earnings than KLX Energy Services. SEACOR Marine 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

SEACOR Marine beats KLX Energy Services on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About SEACOR Marine

SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. provides marine and support transportation services to offshore oil, natural gas, and windfarm facilities worldwide. Its offshore support and specialty vessels deliver cargo and personnel to offshore installations, including offshore wind farms; handle anchors and mooring equipment for offshore rigs and platforms; assist offshore operations for production and storage facilities; provide construction, well work-over, and offshore wind farm installation and decommissioning support; and carry and launch equipment used underwater in drilling and well installation, maintenance, inspection, and repair, as well as offer accommodations for technicians and specialists, safety support, and emergency response services. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a fleet of 58 support vessels, of which 55 were owned or leased-in, and three were managed on behalf of unaffiliated third parties. It serves integrated national and international oil companies, independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, and oil field service and construction companies, as well as offshore wind farm operators and offshore wind farm installation and maintenance companies. SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.