Head to Head Comparison: Arcosa (NYSE:ACA) vs. Lafarge (OTCMKTS:LFRGY)

Arcosa (NYSE:ACA) and Lafarge (OTCMKTS:LFRGY) are both materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Arcosa and Lafarge’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arcosa	17.90%	7.90%	4.22%
Lafarge	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.7% of Arcosa shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Arcosa shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Arcosa and Lafarge, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arcosa	0	4	3	0	2.43
Lafarge	0	0	0	0	0.00

Arcosa currently has a consensus target price of $141.25, indicating a potential downside of 2.98%. Given Lafarge’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lafarge is more favorable than Arcosa.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Arcosa and Lafarge”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arcosa	$2.88 billion	2.48	$208.40 million	$9.98	14.59
Lafarge	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Arcosa has higher revenue and earnings than Lafarge.

Summary

Arcosa beats Lafarge on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arcosa

Arcosa, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides infrastructure-related products and solutions for the construction, engineered structures, and transportation markets in the United States. It operates through three segments: Construction Products, Engineered Structures, and Transportation Products. The Construction Products segment offers natural and recycled aggregates; specialty materials; and construction site support equipment, including trench shields and shoring products for residential and non-residential construction, and specialty/other products, as well as for infrastructure construction. The Engineered Structures segment offers utility structures, wind towers, traffic structures, and telecommunication structures for electricity transmission and distribution, wind power generation, highway road construction, and wireless communication markets. The Transportation Products segment offers inland barges, fiberglass barge covers, winches, marine hardware, and steel components for railcars and transportation equipment; cast components for industrial and mining sectors; and axles, circular forgings, and coupling devices for freight, tank, locomotive, and passenger rail transportation equipment, as well as other industrial uses. Arcosa, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About Lafarge

Lafarge SA (Lafarge) is engaged in producing and selling cement, aggregates and ready mix concrete under the Lafarge brand name. The Group offers a range of products, such as cement and hydraulic binders; aggregates and concrete, and other products, such as gypsum. It offers cement products and hydraulic binders, such as Portland cements, cements for different types of environments, cements for masonry and mortars for concrete blocks, tiles, rendering and stucco, and cements for specific applications. Lafarge offers aggregates products for different uses, from concrete to road and highway surfaces, railway ballast, and fill material, among others. It offers concrete products, such as conventional concrete, and concretes for specific applications, such as Agilia for fluidity, Artevia for decorative purposes, Chronolia, Ductal and Hydromedia pervious concrete. Lafarge produces gypsum through its activities in a few countries in the Middle East and Africa region.