Reviewing Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) & Conrad Industries (OTCMKTS:CNRD)

Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) and Conrad Industries (OTCMKTS:CNRD) are both aerospace companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Howmet Aerospace has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Conrad Industries has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.5% of Howmet Aerospace shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.6% of Conrad Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Howmet Aerospace shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 31.5% of Conrad Industries shares are owned 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Howmet Aerospace and Conrad Industries, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Howmet Aerospace	0	4	18	0	2.82
Conrad Industries	0	0	0	0	0.00

Howmet Aerospace presently has a consensus target price of $283.84, indicating a potential upside of 3.81%. Given Howmet Aerospace’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Howmet Aerospace is more favorable than Conrad Industries.

Profitability

This table compares Howmet Aerospace and Conrad Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Howmet Aerospace	20.23%	29.27%	13.20%
Conrad Industries	6.07%	21.25%	13.08%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Howmet Aerospace and Conrad Industries”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Howmet Aerospace	$8.62 billion	12.71	$1.51 billion	$4.31	63.44
Conrad Industries	$327.55 million	0.36	$19.88 million	$3.96	5.97

Howmet Aerospace has higher revenue and earnings than Conrad Industries. Conrad Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Howmet Aerospace, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Howmet Aerospace beats Conrad Industries on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Howmet Aerospace

Howmet Aerospace Inc. provides advanced engineered solutions for the aerospace and transportation industries in the United States, Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Engine Products, Fastening Systems, Engineered Structures, and Forged Wheels. The Engine Products segment offers airfoils and seamless rolled rings primarily for aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines; and rotating and structural parts. The Fastening Systems segment produces aerospace fastening systems, as well as commercial transportation, industrial, and other fasteners; and latches, bearings, fluid fittings, and installation tools. The Engineered Structures segment provides titanium ingots and mill products, aluminum and nickel forgings, and machined components and assemblies for aerospace and defense applications; and titanium forgings, extrusions, and forming and machining services for airframe, wing, aero-engine, and landing gear components. The Forged Wheels segment offers forged aluminum wheels and related products for heavy-duty trucks and commercial transportation markets. The company was formerly known as Arconic Inc. Howmet Aerospace Inc. was founded in 1888 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

About Conrad Industries

Conrad Industries, Inc. engages in the construction, conversion, and repair of various steel and aluminum marine vessels in the United States. The company builds harbor tugs; specialty barges, such as crane, deck, ABS class, dry bulk cargo, aggregate, and well stim barges; inland tank, LPG inland tank, LPG pressure, LPG tank, and DS tank barges; and offshore support vessels, including liftboats, crew boats, offshore supply vessels, and offshore tugs, as well as other support equipment, such as deck and crane barges. It also builds inland pushboats comprising inland towboats, inland river push boats, and towboats; and ferries, which consist of passenger, and passenger and vehicle ferries. In addition, the company offers repairs and conversions, including electrical, mechanical, propulsion, and hull repairs to large-scale conversions of ships and barges; and engages in the fabrication of modular components for offshore floating production, storage, and offloading vessels, as well as drilling rigs. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Morgan City, Louisiana.