Head-To-Head Comparison: Aris Water Solutions (NYSE:ARIS) versus Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT)

Liberty Energy (NYSE:LBRT) and Aris Water Solutions (NYSE:ARIS) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Liberty Energy has a beta of 1.82, suggesting that its stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aris Water Solutions has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Liberty Energy and Aris Water Solutions’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Liberty Energy	$4.56 billion	0.74	$556.32 million	$2.74	7.38
Aris Water Solutions	$392.12 million	2.21	$18.89 million	$0.72	20.74

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

Dividends

Liberty Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Aris Water Solutions pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Liberty Energy pays out 10.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Aris Water Solutions pays out 58.3% 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.

Profitability

This table compares Liberty Energy and Aris Water Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Liberty Energy	10.43%	26.46%	15.66%
Aris Water Solutions	5.73%	4.62%	2.35%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.2% of Liberty Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.7% of Aris Water Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Liberty Energy shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 23.1% of Aris Water Solutions shares are held 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 summary of current ratings and target prices for Liberty Energy and Aris Water Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Liberty Energy	0	4	6	0	2.60
Aris Water Solutions	0	1	6	0	2.86

Liberty Energy presently has a consensus target price of $25.50, suggesting a potential upside of 26.11%. Aris Water Solutions has a consensus target price of $14.93, suggesting a potential downside of 0.01%. Given Liberty Energy’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Liberty Energy is more favorable than Aris Water Solutions.

Summary

Liberty Energy beats Aris Water Solutions on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Liberty Energy

Liberty Energy Inc. provides hydraulic services and related technologies to onshore oil and natural gas exploration, and production companies in North America. The company offers hydraulic fracturing services, including complementary services, such as wireline services, proppant delivery solutions, field gas processing and treating, compressed natural gas (CNG) delivery, data analytics, related goods comprising sand mine operations, and technologies; and well site fueling and logistics. As of as of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated a fleet of approximately 40 active hydraulic fracturing; and two sand mines in the Permian Basin. In addition, the company provides services primarily in the Permian Basin, the Williston Basin, the Eagle Ford Shale, the Haynesville Shale, the Appalachian Basin (Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale), the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the Denver-Julesburg Basin (the DJ Basin), and the Anadarko Basin. Liberty Energy Inc. was formerly known as Liberty Oilfield Services Inc. and changed its name to Liberty Energy Inc. in April 2022. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About Aris Water Solutions

Aris Water Solutions, Inc., an environmental infrastructure and solutions company, provides water handling and recycling solutions. The company's produced water handling business gathers, transports, unless recycled, and handles produced water generated from oil and natural gas production. Its water solutions business develops and operates recycling facilities to treat, store, and recycle produced water. Aris Water Solutions, Inc. was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.