New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ:NFE) vs. Cheniere Energy Partners (NYSE:CQP) Critical Review

New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ:NFE) and Cheniere Energy Partners (NYSE:CQP) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares New Fortress Energy and Cheniere Energy Partners”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
New Fortress Energy	$2.44 billion	1.49	$547.88 million	$0.91	15.95
Cheniere Energy Partners	$8.93 billion	2.90	$4.25 billion	$4.63	11.55

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

58.6% of New Fortress Energy shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.5% of Cheniere Energy Partners shares are held by institutional investors. 37.1% of New Fortress Energy shares are held by company 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.

Profitability

This table compares New Fortress Energy and Cheniere Energy Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
New Fortress Energy	7.84%	15.60%	2.42%
Cheniere Energy Partners	31.28%	-328.60%	13.93%

Dividends

New Fortress Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Cheniere Energy Partners pays an annual dividend of $3.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. New Fortress Energy pays out 22.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cheniere Energy Partners pays out 67.0% 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.

Volatility and Risk

New Fortress Energy has a beta of 1.6, meaning that its stock price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cheniere Energy Partners has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for New Fortress Energy and Cheniere Energy Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
New Fortress Energy	0	3	2	0	2.40
Cheniere Energy Partners	2	0	0	0	1.00

New Fortress Energy currently has a consensus target price of $15.40, suggesting a potential upside of 6.13%. Cheniere Energy Partners has a consensus target price of $50.50, suggesting a potential downside of 5.59%. Given New Fortress Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe New Fortress Energy is more favorable than Cheniere Energy Partners.

Summary

New Fortress Energy beats Cheniere Energy Partners on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About New Fortress Energy

New Fortress Energy Inc. operates as an integrated gas-to-power energy infrastructure company that provides energy and development services to end-users worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Terminals and Infrastructure, and Ships. The Terminals and Infrastructure segment engages in the natural gas procurement and liquefaction; and shipping, logistics, facilities and conversion, or development of natural gas-fired power generation. The Ships segment offers floating storage and regasification units (FRSU) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers which are leased to customers under long-term or spot arrangements. The company operates LNG storage and regasification facility at the Port of Montego Bay, Jamaica; marine LNG storage and regasification facility in Old Harbour, Jamaica; Dual-fired combined heat and power facility in Clarendon, Jamaica; landed micro-fuel handling facility in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and LNG receiving facility and gas-fired power plant in Baja Califrnia Sur, Mexico, as well as a Miami facility. New Fortress Energy Inc. was founded in 1998 and is based in New York, New York.

About Cheniere Energy Partners

Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P., through its subsidiaries, provides liquefied natural gas (LNG) to integrated energy companies, utilities, and energy trading companies worldwide. The company owns and operates natural gas liquefaction and export facility at the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. It also owns a natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG terminal with various interstate pipelines. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. is a subsidiary of Cheniere Energy, Inc.