Comparing Argan (NYSE:AGX) and Everus Construction Group (NYSE:ECG)

Everus Construction Group (NYSE:ECG) and Argan (NYSE:AGX) are both mid-cap construction companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

Everus Construction Group has a beta of 3.27, indicating that its share price is 227% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Argan has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Everus Construction Group and Argan”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Everus Construction Group	$3.75 billion	1.57	$201.77 million	$3.94	29.24
Argan	$915.03 million	6.25	$85.46 million	$8.49	48.56

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Everus Construction Group and Argan, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Everus Construction Group	0	4	2	1	2.57
Argan	0	6	3	0	2.33

Everus Construction Group presently has a consensus target price of $102.75, suggesting a potential downside of 10.82%. Argan has a consensus target price of $355.20, suggesting a potential downside of 13.84%. Given Everus Construction Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Everus Construction Group is more favorable than Argan.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

79.4% of Argan shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Everus Construction Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.7% of Argan shares are held by 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.

Profitability

This table compares Everus Construction Group and Argan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Everus Construction Group	5.39%	37.06%	13.04%
Argan	13.11%	31.38%	13.47%

Summary

Argan beats Everus Construction Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Everus Construction Group

Everus Construction Group is providing a full spectrum of construction services through its electrical and mechanical and transmission and distribution specialty contracting services principally in United States. Its specialty contracting services are provided to utility, transportation, commercial, industrial, institutional, renewable and other customers. Everus Construction Group is based in BISMARCK, N.D.

About Argan

Argan, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, maintenance, project development, and technical consulting services to the power generation market. The company operates through Power Services, Industrial Services, and Telecom Services segments. The Power Services segment offers engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as designing, building, and commissioning of large-scale energy projects to the owners of alternative energy facilities, such as biomass plants, wind farms, and solar fields; and design, construction, project management, start-up, and operation services for projects with approximately 18 gigawatts of power-generating capacity. This segment serves independent power project owners, public utilities, power plant equipment suppliers, and other commercial firms. The Industrial Services segment provides industrial construction and field services and vessel fabrication services for fertilizer, engineering and construction, forest products, and various other industrial companies in southeast region of the United States. The Telecom Services segment offers trenchless directional boring and excavation for underground communication and power networks, as well as aerial cabling services; and installs buried cable, high and low voltage electric lines, and private area outdoor lighting systems. It also provides structured cabling, terminations, and connectivity that offers the physical transport for high-speed data, voice, video, and security networks. This segment serves electricity cooperative, state and local government agencies, counties and municipalities, and technology-oriented government contracting firms, as well as federal government facilities in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Argan, Inc. was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.