Comparing Argan (NYSE:AGX) and Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL)

Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) and Argan (NYSE:AGX) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Sterling Infrastructure and Argan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sterling Infrastructure	N/A	N/A	N/A
Argan	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sterling Infrastructure and Argan”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sterling Infrastructure	$3.44 billion	3.27	$424.27 million	$13.87	26.50
Argan	N/A	N/A	N/A	$12.64	26.98

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.9% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.4% of Argan shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Argan shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Sterling Infrastructure and Argan, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sterling Infrastructure	0	2	6	0	2.75
Argan	1	4	4	1	2.50

Sterling Infrastructure currently has a consensus target price of $733.17, suggesting a potential upside of 99.50%. Argan has a consensus target price of $509.00, suggesting a potential upside of 49.23%. Given Sterling Infrastructure’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Sterling Infrastructure is more favorable than Argan.

Summary

Sterling Infrastructure beats Argan on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sterling Infrastructure

Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. engages in the provision of e-infrastructure, transportation, and building solutions primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: E-Infrastructure Solutions, Transportation Solutions, and Building Solutions. The E-Infrastructure Solutions segment provides site development services for the blue-chip end users in the e-commerce distribution center, data center, manufacturing, warehousing, and power generation sectors. The Transportation Solutions segment is involved in the development of infrastructure and rehabilitation projects for highways, roads, bridges, airports, ports, rail, and storm drainage systems for the departments of transportation in various states, regional transit authorities, airport authorities, port authorities, water authorities, and railroads. The Building Solutions segment provides residential and commercial concrete foundations for single-family and multi-family homes, parking structures, elevated slabs, other concrete work for developers and general contractors, as well as provides plumbing services for residential builds. The company was formerly known as Sterling Construction Company, Inc. and changed its name to Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. in June 2022. Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.

About Argan

Argan, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, maintenance, project development, and technical consulting services to the power generation market. The company operates through Power Services, Industrial Services, and Telecom Services segments. The Power Services segment offers engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as designing, building, and commissioning of large-scale energy projects to the owners of alternative energy facilities, such as biomass plants, wind farms, and solar fields; and design, construction, project management, start-up, and operation services for projects with approximately 18 gigawatts of power-generating capacity. This segment serves independent power project owners, public utilities, power plant equipment suppliers, and other commercial firms. The Industrial Services segment provides industrial construction and field services and vessel fabrication services for fertilizer, engineering and construction, forest products, and various other industrial companies in southeast region of the United States. The Telecom Services segment offers trenchless directional boring and excavation for underground communication and power networks, as well as aerial cabling services; and installs buried cable, high and low voltage electric lines, and private area outdoor lighting systems. It also provides structured cabling, terminations, and connectivity that offers the physical transport for high-speed data, voice, video, and security networks. This segment serves electricity cooperative, state and local government agencies, counties and municipalities, and technology-oriented government contracting firms, as well as federal government facilities in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Argan, Inc. was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.