Contrasting James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) & Arcosa (NYSE:ACA)

Arcosa (NYSE:ACA) and James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Arcosa has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, James Hardie Industries has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its stock price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

90.7% of Arcosa shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.0% of James Hardie Industries shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Arcosa shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of James Hardie Industries shares are held 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 Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Arcosa and James Hardie Industries, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arcosa	0	4	3	0	2.43
James Hardie Industries	0	2	11	0	2.85

Arcosa presently has a consensus target price of $141.25, indicating a potential downside of 3.60%. James Hardie Industries has a consensus target price of $32.78, indicating a potential upside of 25.87%. Given James Hardie Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe James Hardie Industries is more favorable than Arcosa.

Profitability

This table compares Arcosa and James Hardie Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arcosa	17.90%	7.90%	4.22%
James Hardie Industries	2.69%	10.56%	4.93%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Arcosa and James Hardie Industries”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arcosa	$2.88 billion	2.50	$208.40 million	$9.98	14.68
James Hardie Industries	$4.84 billion	3.13	$104.00 million	$0.25	104.16

Arcosa has higher earnings, but lower revenue than James Hardie Industries. Arcosa is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than James Hardie Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

James Hardie Industries beats Arcosa on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arcosa

Arcosa, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides infrastructure-related products and solutions for the construction, engineered structures, and transportation markets in the United States. It operates through three segments: Construction Products, Engineered Structures, and Transportation Products. The Construction Products segment offers natural and recycled aggregates; specialty materials; and construction site support equipment, including trench shields and shoring products for residential and non-residential construction, and specialty/other products, as well as for infrastructure construction. The Engineered Structures segment offers utility structures, wind towers, traffic structures, and telecommunication structures for electricity transmission and distribution, wind power generation, highway road construction, and wireless communication markets. The Transportation Products segment offers inland barges, fiberglass barge covers, winches, marine hardware, and steel components for railcars and transportation equipment; cast components for industrial and mining sectors; and axles, circular forgings, and coupling devices for freight, tank, locomotive, and passenger rail transportation equipment, as well as other industrial uses. Arcosa, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About James Hardie Industries

James Hardie Industries plc manufactures and sells fiber cement, fiber gypsum, and cement bonded building products for interior and exterior building construction applications primarily in the United States, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The company operates through North America Fiber Cement, Asia Pacific Fiber Cement, and Europe Building Products segments. It offers fiber cement interior linings, exterior siding products, and related accessories; and various fiber cement products for a range of applications, including external cladding, internal walls, ceilings, floors, soffits, fences, and facades. The company also provides fiber gypsum and cement-bonded boards for use in the timber frame construction, dry lining, DIY, and structural fire protection applications. Its products are used in residential repair and remodel, and commercial and residential new construction markets James Hardie Industries plc was founded in 1888 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.