Comparing Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) and Cathedral Energy Services (OTCMKTS:CETEF)

Cathedral Energy Services (OTCMKTS:CETEF) and Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) are both energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Cathedral Energy Services and Nabors Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cathedral Energy Services	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nabors Industries	-4.73%	-28.10%	-3.08%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cathedral Energy Services and Nabors Industries’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cathedral Energy Services	N/A	N/A	N/A	C($0.08)	-59.84
Nabors Industries	$2.93 billion	0.28	-$11.78 million	($13.81)	-5.45

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Cathedral Energy Services and Nabors Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cathedral Energy Services	0	0	0	0	N/A
Nabors Industries	0	4	2	0	2.33

Nabors Industries has a consensus price target of $108.50, suggesting a potential upside of 44.15%. Given Nabors Industries’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Nabors Industries is more favorable than Cathedral Energy Services.

Dividends

Cathedral Energy Services pays an annual dividend of C$0.33 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.3%. Nabors Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Cathedral Energy Services pays out -435.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nabors Industries pays out -0.3% 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. Cathedral Energy Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

72.1% of Cathedral Energy Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.9% of Nabors Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of Nabors Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

About Cathedral Energy Services

Cathedral Energy Services Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides directional drilling services to oil and natural gas companies in western Canada and the United States. It offers remote directional and measurement-while-drilling (MWD), automated gamma, drilling optimization, and well planning services. The company's products include nDURANCE motors for formations with poor build tendencies and monobore wells, as well as hard, aggressive, and unconsolidated formations; MWD sensors to determine trajectory parameters, such as inclination, direction, and tool-face orientation; FUSION MWD system, a central data processing unit to which a range of sensors and telemetry options can be connected to provide the data collection and transmission services; and RapidFire, a MWD tool. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

About Nabors Industries

Nabors Industries Ltd. provides drilling and drilling-related services for land-based and offshore oil and natural gas wells in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: U.S. Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It provides tubular running services, including casing and tubing running, and torque monitoring; managed pressure drilling services; and drilling-bit steering systems and rig instrumentation software. The company also offers drilling systems comprising ROCKit, a directional steering control system; SmartNAV, a collaborative guidance and advisory platform; SmartSLIDE, a directional steering control system; and RigCLOUD, a digital infrastructure to integrate applications to deliver real-time insight into operations across the rig fleet. In addition, it operates a fleet of land-based drilling rigs and marketed platforms rigs; manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and other drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools; and provides aftermarket sales and services for the installed base of its equipment. Nabors Industries Ltd. was founded in 1952 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.