Critical Comparison: Tutor Perini (NYSE:TPC) & Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL)

Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) and Tutor Perini (NYSE:TPC) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Sterling Infrastructure has a beta of 1.86, meaning that its share price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tutor Perini has a beta of 2.06, meaning that its share price is 106% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sterling Infrastructure and Tutor Perini’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sterling Infrastructure	12.55%	40.12%	17.15%
Tutor Perini	2.08%	20.95%	5.15%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.9% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.0% of Tutor Perini shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.4% of Tutor Perini shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Sterling Infrastructure and Tutor Perini, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sterling Infrastructure	0	2	6	0	2.75
Tutor Perini	0	1	3	0	2.75

Sterling Infrastructure presently has a consensus price target of $733.00, suggesting a potential upside of 61.79%. Tutor Perini has a consensus price target of $105.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.24%. Given Sterling Infrastructure’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sterling Infrastructure is more favorable than Tutor Perini.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sterling Infrastructure and Tutor Perini”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sterling Infrastructure	$2.49 billion	5.57	$290.15 million	$13.87	32.67
Tutor Perini	$127.24 billion	0.03	$80.44 million	$2.32	34.22

Sterling Infrastructure has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Tutor Perini. Sterling Infrastructure is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Tutor Perini, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Sterling Infrastructure beats Tutor Perini on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sterling Infrastructure

Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. engages in the provision of e-infrastructure, transportation, and building solutions primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: E-Infrastructure Solutions, Transportation Solutions, and Building Solutions. The E-Infrastructure Solutions segment provides site development services for the blue-chip end users in the e-commerce distribution center, data center, manufacturing, warehousing, and power generation sectors. The Transportation Solutions segment is involved in the development of infrastructure and rehabilitation projects for highways, roads, bridges, airports, ports, rail, and storm drainage systems for the departments of transportation in various states, regional transit authorities, airport authorities, port authorities, water authorities, and railroads. The Building Solutions segment provides residential and commercial concrete foundations for single-family and multi-family homes, parking structures, elevated slabs, other concrete work for developers and general contractors, as well as provides plumbing services for residential builds. The company was formerly known as Sterling Construction Company, Inc. and changed its name to Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. in June 2022. Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

About Tutor Perini

Tutor Perini Corporation, a construction company, provides diversified general contracting, construction management, and design-build services to private customers and public agencies in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Civil, Building, and Specialty Contractors. The Civil segment engages in the public works construction and the replacement and reconstruction of infrastructure; and offers contracting services, including construction and rehabilitation of highways, bridges, tunnels, mass-transit systems, military defense facilities, and water management and wastewater treatment facilities, as well as provides drilling, foundation, and excavation support for shoring, bridges, piers, roads, and highway projects. The Building segment offers range of services in various specialized building markets, such as hospitality and gaming, transportation, health care, commercial offices, government facilities, sports and entertainment, education, correctional and detention facilities, biotech, pharmaceutical, industrial, and technology. The Specialty Contractors segment provides electrical, mechanical, plumbing, and fire protection systems, as well as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning services (HVAC) for civil and building construction projects in industrial, commercial, hospitality and gaming, and mass-transit end markets. It also offers pre-construction planning and project management services comprising planning and scheduling of the manpower, equipment, materials, and subcontractor services; and self-performed construction services consisting of site work, concrete forming and placement, and steel erection. The company was formerly known as Perini Corporation and changed its name to Tutor Perini Corporation in May 2009. Tutor Perini Corporation was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Sylmar, California.