Knife River (NYSE:KNF) vs. Boral (OTCMKTS:BOALY) Critical Review

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) and Boral (OTCMKTS:BOALY) are both materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Knife River and Boral”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Knife River	$3.15 billion	1.22	$157.07 million	$2.57	26.26
Boral	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.88	15.92

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Knife River and Boral, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Knife River	0	4	6	0	2.60
Boral	0	0	0	0	0.00

Knife River presently has a consensus price target of $91.86, indicating a potential upside of 36.09%. Given Knife River’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Knife River is more favorable than Boral.

Profitability

This table compares Knife River and Boral’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Knife River	4.23%	8.73%	3.65%
Boral	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.1% of Knife River shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Boral shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Knife River shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Knife River beats Boral on 11 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Knife River

Knife River Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides aggregates- led construction materials and contracting services in the United States. It operates through Pacific, Northwest, Mountain, Central, and Energy Services segments. The company mines, processes, and sells construction aggregates, including crushed stone and sand, and gravel; and produces and sells asphalt and ready-mix concrete. It also provides contracting service, such as heavy-civil construction, asphalt and concrete paving, and site development and grading. In addition, the company sells cement, merchandise, and other building materials and related services. The company sells its construction materials to public and private-sector customers, including federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as industrial, commercial and residential developers, and other private parties; and provides its contracting services to public-sector customers for the development and servicing of highways, local roads, bridges, and other public-infrastructure projects. Knife River Corporation was founded in 1917 and is based in Bismarck, North Dakota.

About Boral

Boral Limited operates as a vertically integrated construction materials company in Australia. The company operates through Construction Materials and Property segments. It engages in cement infrastructure, bitumen, construction materials recycling, asphalt, and concrete batching operations. The company also offers construction materials concrete, asphalt, quarries, cement, recycling, and concrete placing services. In addition, it provides circular material solutions, architects training, innovation factory, and material technical services, as well as offers property development and divestment activities. The company was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in North Ryde, Australia. Boral Limited is a subsidiary of Network Investment Holdings Pty Limited.