Atlas Energy Solutions (NYSE:AESI) versus Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) Critical Analysis

Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) and Atlas Energy Solutions (NYSE:AESI) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Halliburton and Atlas Energy Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Halliburton	1	6	18	0	2.68
Atlas Energy Solutions	2	4	5	0	2.27

Halliburton currently has a consensus price target of $43.24, suggesting a potential upside of 35.84%. Atlas Energy Solutions has a consensus price target of $17.22, suggesting a potential upside of 43.35%. Given Atlas Energy Solutions’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Atlas Energy Solutions is more favorable than Halliburton.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

85.2% of Halliburton shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.6% of Atlas Energy Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Halliburton shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 16.4% of Atlas Energy Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Halliburton has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atlas Energy Solutions has a beta of 1.19, suggesting that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Halliburton and Atlas Energy Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Halliburton	7.16%	18.71%	7.89%
Atlas Energy Solutions	-11.08%	-9.57%	-4.84%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Halliburton and Atlas Energy Solutions”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Halliburton	$22.18 billion	1.20	$1.28 billion	$1.91	16.66
Atlas Energy Solutions	$1.10 billion	1.37	-$50.30 million	($0.95)	-12.65

Halliburton has higher revenue and earnings than Atlas Energy Solutions. Atlas Energy Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Halliburton, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Halliburton beats Atlas Energy Solutions on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Halliburton

Halliburton Company provides products and services to the energy industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Completion and Production, and Drilling and Evaluation. The Completion and Production segment offers production enhancement services that include stimulation and sand control services; cementing services, such as well bonding and casing, and casing equipment; and completion tools that offer downhole solutions and services, including well completion products and services, intelligent well completions, and service tools, as well as liner hanger, sand control, and multilateral systems. This segment also provides electrical submersible pumps, as well as artificial lift services; production solutions comprising coiled tubing, hydraulic workover units, downhole tools, and pumping and nitrogen services; pipeline and process services, such as pre-commissioning, commissioning, maintenance, and decommissioning; and specialty chemicals and services. The Drilling and Evaluation segment offers drilling fluid systems, performance additives, completion fluids, solids control, specialized testing equipment, and waste management services; drilling systems and services; wireline and perforating services consists of open-hole logging, and cased-hole and slickline; and drill bits and services comprising roller cone rock bits, fixed cutter bits, hole enlargement, and related downhole tools and services, as well as coring equipment and services. This segment also provides cloud based digital services and artificial intelligence solutions on an open architecture for subsurface insights, integrated well construction, and reservoir and production management; testing and subsea services, such as acquisition and analysis of reservoir information and optimization solutions; and project management and integrated asset management services. Halliburton Company was founded in 1919 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Atlas Energy Solutions

Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. engages in the production, processing, and sale of mesh and sand that are used as a proppant during the well completion process in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. The company provides transportation and logistics, storage solutions, and contract labor services. It sells its products and services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, and oilfield services companies. Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.