Comparing INNOVATE (NYSE:VATE) & Primoris Services (NYSE:PRIM)

INNOVATE (NYSE:VATE) and Primoris Services (NYSE:PRIM) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

34.3% of INNOVATE shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of Primoris Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 57.7% of INNOVATE shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Primoris Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares INNOVATE and Primoris Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
INNOVATE	-1.48%	N/A	-2.35%
Primoris Services	1.92%	9.96%	3.67%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for INNOVATE and Primoris Services, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
INNOVATE	1	0	0	0	1.00
Primoris Services	0	7	10	0	2.59

Primoris Services has a consensus price target of $123.47, suggesting a potential upside of 58.11%. Given Primoris Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Primoris Services is more favorable than INNOVATE.

Volatility & Risk

INNOVATE has a beta of 2.43, indicating that its stock price is 143% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Primoris Services has a beta of 1.44, indicating that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares INNOVATE and Primoris Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
INNOVATE	$1.25 billion	0.07	-$60.60 million	($1.87)	-3.20
Primoris Services	$7.57 billion	0.55	$274.90 million	$2.55	30.62

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

Summary

Primoris Services beats INNOVATE on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About INNOVATE

INNOVATE Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates in infrastructure, life sciences, and spectrum areas in the United States. The Infrastructure segment provides industrial construction, structural steel, and facility maintenance services, such as fabrication and erection of structural steel and heavy steel plate services, and large-diameter water pipes and water storage tanks; fabrication of trusses and girders; and 3-D building information modeling and detailing for commercial, industrial, and infrastructure construction projects, such as buildings and office complexes, hotels and casinos, convention centers, sports arenas and stadiums, shopping malls, hospitals, dams, bridges, mines, metal processing, refineries, pulp and paper mills, and power plants. This segment also offers solutions for digital engineering, modeling and detailing, construction, and heavy equipment installation and facility services including maintenance, repair, and installation; and manufactures pollution control scrubbers, tunnel liners, pressure vessels, strainers, filters, separators, and customized products. The Life Sciences segment develops products to treat early osteoarthritis of the knee; and aesthetic and medical technologies for the skin. The Spectrum segment operates over-the-air broadcasting stations across the United States; and Azteca America, a Spanish-language broadcast network. The company was formerly known as HC2 Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to INNOVATE Corp. in September 2021. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Primoris Services

Primoris Services Corporation, a specialty contractor company, provides a range of construction, fabrication, maintenance, replacement, and engineering services in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: Utilities, Energy/Renewables, and Pipeline Services. The Utilities segment offers installation and maintenance services for new and existing natural gas distribution systems, electric utility distribution and transmission systems, and communications systems. The Energy/Renewables segment provides a range of services, including engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as retrofits, highway and bridge construction, demolition, site work, soil stabilization, mass excavation, flood control, upgrades, repairs, outages, and maintenance services to renewable energy and energy storage, renewable fuels, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries, as well as state departments of transportation. The Pipeline Services segment offers a range of services comprising pipeline construction, maintenance, facility, and integrity services; installation of compressor and pump stations; and metering facilities for entities in the petroleum and petrochemical industries, as well as gas, water, and sewer utilities. The company was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.