Reviewing Southland (NASDAQ:SLND) and IES (NASDAQ:IESC)

IES (NASDAQ:IESC) and Southland (NASDAQ:SLND) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares IES and Southland’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IES	11.40%	35.70%	19.68%
Southland	-10.38%	-47.71%	-8.75%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares IES and Southland”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IES	$3.37 billion	4.09	$303.06 million	$11.26	30.70
Southland	$603.01 million	0.05	-$19.25 million	($7.46)	-0.08

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.6% of IES shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.8% of Southland shares are held by institutional investors. 56.4% of IES shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 73.4% of Southland shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for IES and Southland, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IES	0	1	2	0	2.67
Southland	0	1	0	0	2.00

IES presently has a consensus target price of $277.25, indicating a potential downside of 19.80%. Given IES’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe IES is more favorable than Southland.

Risk & Volatility

IES has a beta of 1.78, suggesting that its share price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southland has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

IES beats Southland on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IES

IES Holdings, Inc. engages in the design and installation of integrated electrical and technology systems, and provides infrastructure products and services in the United States. The Communications segment designs, installs, and maintains network infrastructure within data centers for co-location and managed hosting customers; corporate, educational, financial, hospitality, and healthcare buildings; e-commerce distribution centers; and high-tech manufacturing facilities. This segment also provides design and installation services for audio/visual, telephone, fire, and wireless access and intrusion alarm systems; and engages in designing/building, servicing, and maintaining data network systems. The Residential segment offers electrical installations to single-family housing and multi-family apartments; and cable television installations to residential and light commercial applications, as well as installs residential solar power for new construction and existing residences. The Infrastructure Solutions segment maintains and repairs alternating and direct current electric motors and generators, and power generating and distribution equipment; manufactures custom-engineered metal enclosed bus duct solutions used in power distribution; manufactures custom commercial and industrial generator enclosures; manufactures, re-manufactures, and repairs industrial lifting magnets; and maintains and repairs railroad main and auxiliary generators, main alternators, and traction motors. The Commercial & Industrial segment offers electrical and mechanical design, construction, and maintenance services for office buildings, manufacturing facilities, data centers, chemical plants, refineries, wind farms, solar facilities, municipal infrastructures, and health care facilities. The company was formerly known as Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. and changed its name to IES Holdings, Inc. in May 2016. IES Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Southland

Southland Holdings, Inc. engages in specialty infrastructure construction business in North America and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Civil and Transportation. The Civil segment designs and constructs water pipelines, pump stations, lift stations, water and wastewater treatment plants, concrete and structural steel, outfall, and tunneling. The Transportation segment designs and constructs bridges, roadways, marine, dredging, ship terminals and piers, and specialty structures and facilities, as well as convention centers, sports stadiums, marine facilities, and ferris wheels. Southland Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas.