Contrasting Ashtead Group (OTCMKTS:ASHTY) and Northgate (OTCMKTS:NGTEF)

Northgate (OTCMKTS:NGTEF) and Ashtead Group (OTCMKTS:ASHTY) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.8% of Ashtead Group shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Northgate and Ashtead Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northgate	0	0	0	0	0.00
Ashtead Group	1	2	3	0	2.33

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Northgate and Ashtead Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Northgate	$863.72 million	0.83	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ashtead Group	$10.79 billion	2.47	$1.51 billion	$13.22	19.26

Ashtead Group has higher revenue and earnings than Northgate.

Profitability

This table compares Northgate and Ashtead Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northgate	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ashtead Group	12.83%	20.18%	6.98%

Summary

Ashtead Group beats Northgate on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Northgate

Northgate plc provides light commercial vehicle hire services in the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Republic of Ireland. It also sells used vehicles; supplies other related goods and services; and offers fleet management services. The company operates a fleet of 53,000 vehicles from 77 locations in the United Kingdom; and a fleet of 40,000 vehicles from 24 locations in Spain. It serves construction and distribution, manufacturing and engineering, and business service industries, as well as local authorities, public utilities, and retailers and wholesalers. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Darlington, the United Kingdom.

About Ashtead Group

Ashtead Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the construction, industrial, and general equipment rental business in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It provides pumps, power generation, heating, cooling, scaffolding, traffic management, temporary flooring, trench shoring, and lifting services. The company offers its products and services for facilities maintenance and municipalities, such as office complexes, apartment complexes, government, hospitals, data centers, parks and recreation departments, schools and universities, shopping centers, pavement/kerb repairs, and golf course maintenance; construction of airports, highways and bridges, office buildings, data centers, schools and universities, shopping centers, residential, remodeling, manufacturing plants, and green energy plants; emergency response for fire, hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, winter, storms, residential and health emergencies, alternative care facilities, points of distribution, and mobile testing facilities; and entertainment and special events, including national events, concerts, sporting events, film and telvision production, theme parks, festivals farmers' markets, local 5k runs, and cycle races. It operates 1,094 stores in the United States, 119 stores in Canada, and 185 stores in the United Kingdom under the Sunbelt Rentals brand. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.