Comparing Geospace Technologies (NASDAQ:GEOS) & Archrock (NYSE:AROC)

Geospace Technologies (NASDAQ:GEOS) and Archrock (NYSE:AROC) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

57.2% of Geospace Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.4% of Archrock shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of Geospace Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Archrock shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Geospace Technologies and Archrock, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Geospace Technologies	1	0	0	0	1.00
Archrock	1	0	9	0	2.80

Archrock has a consensus target price of $42.29, suggesting a potential upside of 38.38%. Given Archrock’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Archrock is more favorable than Geospace Technologies.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Geospace Technologies and Archrock”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Geospace Technologies	$110.80 million	0.59	-$9.72 million	($3.08)	-1.65
Archrock	$1.50 billion	3.56	$322.29 million	$1.86	16.43

Archrock has higher revenue and earnings than Geospace Technologies. Geospace Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Archrock, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Geospace Technologies and Archrock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Geospace Technologies	-43.10%	-35.80%	-28.30%
Archrock	21.84%	22.22%	7.56%

Volatility & Risk

Geospace Technologies has a beta of 0.13, meaning that its stock price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Archrock has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Archrock beats Geospace Technologies on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Geospace Technologies

Geospace Technologies Corporation designs and manufactures instruments and equipment used in the oil and gas industry to acquire seismic data in order to locate, characterize, and monitor hydrocarbon producing reservoirs. The company operates through three segments: Oil and Gas Markets, Adjacent Markets, and Emerging Markets. The Oil and Gas Markets segment offers wireless seismic data acquisition systems and reservoir characterization products and services, as well as traditional seismic exploration products, such as geophones, hydrophones, leader wires, connectors, cables, marine streamer retrieval and steering devices, and other seismic products. The Adjacent Markets segment provides industrial products, including imaging equipment, water meter products, remote shut-off valves, and Internet of Things platform, as well as seismic sensors for vibration monitoring and geotechnical applications, such as mine safety and earthquake detection applications; and electronic pre-press products that employ direct thermal imaging, direct-to-screen printing systems, and digital inkjet printing technologies targeted at the commercial and industrial graphics, textile, and flexographic printing industries. The Emerging Markets segment designs and sells products used for border and perimeter security surveillance, cross-border tunneling detection, and other products targeted at movement monitoring, intrusion detection, and situational awareness. This segment serves various agencies of the United States government, including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies. The company operates in Asia, Canada, Europe, South America, the United States, and internationally. Geospace Technologies Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Archrock

Archrock, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Contract Operations and Aftermarket Services. It engages in the designing, sourcing, owning, installing, operating, servicing, repairing, and maintaining of its owned fleet of natural gas compression equipment to provide natural gas compression services. The company also sells over-the-counter parts and components; and provides operations, major and routine maintenance, overhaul, and reconfiguration services to customers who own compression equipment. It serves integrated and independent oil and natural gas processors, gatherers, and transporters. The company was formerly known as Exterran Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Archrock, Inc. in November 2015. Archrock, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.