Conrad Industries (OTCMKTS:CNRD) versus Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) Financial Review

Conrad Industries (OTCMKTS:CNRD) and Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) are both aerospace companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Conrad Industries and Howmet Aerospace’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Conrad Industries	6.07%	19.54%	12.74%
Howmet Aerospace	20.23%	29.27%	13.20%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Conrad Industries and Howmet Aerospace”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Conrad Industries	$327.55 million	0.39	$19.88 million	$3.83	6.59
Howmet Aerospace	$8.62 billion	11.57	$1.51 billion	$4.31	57.86

Howmet Aerospace has higher revenue and earnings than Conrad Industries. Conrad Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Howmet Aerospace, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.6% of Conrad Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.5% of Howmet Aerospace shares are held by institutional investors. 31.5% of Conrad Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Howmet Aerospace 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.

Risk & Volatility

Conrad Industries has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Howmet Aerospace has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Conrad Industries and Howmet Aerospace, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Conrad Industries	0	0	0	0	0.00
Howmet Aerospace	0	4	18	0	2.82

Howmet Aerospace has a consensus target price of $285.53, suggesting a potential upside of 14.50%. Given Howmet Aerospace’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Howmet Aerospace is more favorable than Conrad Industries.

Summary

Howmet Aerospace beats Conrad Industries on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Conrad Industries

Conrad Industries, Inc. engages in the construction, conversion, and repair of various steel and aluminum marine vessels in the United States. The company builds harbor tugs; specialty barges, such as crane, deck, ABS class, dry bulk cargo, aggregate, and well stim barges; inland tank, LPG inland tank, LPG pressure, LPG tank, and DS tank barges; and offshore support vessels, including liftboats, crew boats, offshore supply vessels, and offshore tugs, as well as other support equipment, such as deck and crane barges. It also builds inland pushboats comprising inland towboats, inland river push boats, and towboats; and ferries, which consist of passenger, and passenger and vehicle ferries. In addition, the company offers repairs and conversions, including electrical, mechanical, propulsion, and hull repairs to large-scale conversions of ships and barges; and engages in the fabrication of modular components for offshore floating production, storage, and offloading vessels, as well as drilling rigs. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Morgan City, Louisiana.

About Howmet Aerospace

Howmet Aerospace Inc. provides advanced engineered solutions for the aerospace and transportation industries in the United States, Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Engine Products, Fastening Systems, Engineered Structures, and Forged Wheels. The Engine Products segment offers airfoils and seamless rolled rings primarily for aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines; and rotating and structural parts. The Fastening Systems segment produces aerospace fastening systems, as well as commercial transportation, industrial, and other fasteners; and latches, bearings, fluid fittings, and installation tools. The Engineered Structures segment provides titanium ingots and mill products, aluminum and nickel forgings, and machined components and assemblies for aerospace and defense applications; and titanium forgings, extrusions, and forming and machining services for airframe, wing, aero-engine, and landing gear components. The Forged Wheels segment offers forged aluminum wheels and related products for heavy-duty trucks and commercial transportation markets. The company was formerly known as Arconic Inc. Howmet Aerospace Inc. was founded in 1888 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.