Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) vs. APi Group (NYSE:APG) Critical Review

APi Group (NYSE:APG) and Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

APi Group has a beta of 1.6, meaning that its stock price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Granite Construction has a beta of 1.32, meaning that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for APi Group and Granite Construction, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
APi Group	0	2	6	1	2.89
Granite Construction	2	1	2	1	2.33

APi Group presently has a consensus target price of $52.57, indicating a potential upside of 30.64%. Granite Construction has a consensus target price of $158.50, indicating a potential upside of 33.22%. Given Granite Construction’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Granite Construction is more favorable than APi Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares APi Group and Granite Construction”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
APi Group	$7.91 billion	2.20	$302.00 million	($0.67)	-60.06
Granite Construction	$4.97 billion	1.05	$193.00 million	($4.31)	-27.60

APi Group has higher revenue and earnings than Granite Construction. APi Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Granite Construction, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.6% of APi Group shares are held by institutional investors. 18.7% of APi Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Granite Construction shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares APi Group and Granite Construction’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
APi Group	3.99%	37.59%	14.07%
Granite Construction	-3.32%	27.83%	7.17%

Summary

APi Group beats Granite Construction on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About APi Group

APi Group Corporation provides safety and specialty services worldwide. It operates through Safety Services and Specialty Services segments. The Safety Services segment offers solutions focusing on end-to-end integrated occupancy systems, such as fire protection services; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning solutions; and entry systems, which include the design, installation, inspection, and service of these integrated systems. The Specialty Services segment provides various infrastructure and specialized industrial plant services, including maintenance and repair of underground electric, gas, water, sewer, and telecommunications infrastructure. This segment offers engineering and design, fabrication, installation, maintenance service and repair, retrofitting and upgrading services, pipeline infrastructure, access and road construction, supporting facilities, and integrity management and maintenance to the energy industry. It serves customers in the public and private sectors, including commercial, industrial, distribution and fulfillment centers, manufacturing, education, healthcare, telecom, utilities, transmission and integrity, high tech, entertainment, government, and infrastructure markets. The company was formerly known as J2 Acquisition Limited and changed its name to APi Group Corporation in October 2019. APi Group Corporation was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in New Brighton, Minnesota.

About Granite Construction

Granite Construction Incorporated operates as an infrastructure contractor in the United States. It operates through two segments: Construction and Materials segments. The Construction segment engages in the construction and rehabilitation of roads, pavement preservation, bridges, rail lines, airports, marine ports, dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, infrastructure, and site development for use by the public and water-related construction for municipal agencies, commercial water suppliers, industrial facilities, and energy companies; and construction of various complex projects, including infrastructure/site development, mining, public safety, tunnel, solar storage, and power related projects. The Materials segment is involved in the production of aggregates, asphalt concrete, liquid asphalt, and recycled materials production for internal use in our construction projects and sale to third parties. It also offers site preparation, mining, and infrastructure services for residential development, energy development, commercial and industrial sites, railways, residential development, and energy development; and provides construction management professional services. It serves federal agencies, state departments of transportation, local transit authorities, county and city public works departments, school districts and developers, utilities, contractors, landscapers, manufacturers of products requiring aggregate materials, retailers, homeowners, farmers, brokers, and private owners of industrial, commercial, and residential sites. Granite Construction Incorporated was incorporated in 1922 and is headquartered in Watsonville, California.