Contrasting AZZ (AZZ) and Its Peers

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) is one of 93 publicly-traded companies in the “Building Products” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare AZZ to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.9% of AZZ shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.6% of shares of all “Building Products” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of AZZ shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.2% of shares of all “Building Products” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

AZZ has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AZZ’s rivals have a beta of 1.07, meaning that their average stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares AZZ and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
AZZ	$1.65 billion	$317.26 million	25.06
AZZ Competitors	$4.02 billion	$4.66 billion	37.37

AZZ’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than AZZ. AZZ is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares AZZ and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AZZ	9.59%	14.85%	8.96%
AZZ Competitors	3.72%	-28.21%	5.11%

Dividends

AZZ pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. AZZ pays out 17.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Building Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 7.0% and pay out 37.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for AZZ and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AZZ	0	3	4	0	2.57
AZZ Competitors	735	3921	5047	238	2.48

AZZ presently has a consensus target price of $153.20, indicating a potential upside of 10.14%. As a group, “Building Products” companies have a potential upside of 26.46%. Given AZZ’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe AZZ has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Summary

AZZ beats its rivals on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About AZZ

AZZ Inc. provides hot-dip galvanizing and coil coating solutions in North America. It offers metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot-dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing, powder coating, anodizing, and plating to steel fabrication and other industries, as well as to fabricators or manufacturers that provide services to the transmission and distribution, bridge and highway, petrochemical, and general industrial markets; and original equipment manufacturers. It also provides aesthetic and corrosion protective coatings and related value-added services for steel and aluminum coil primarily serving the construction; appliance; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; container; transportation; and other end markets. The company was incorporated in 1956 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.