Financial Review: NWPX Infrastructure (NASDAQ:NWPX) versus Lennox International (NYSE:LII)

NWPX Infrastructure (NASDAQ:NWPX) and Lennox International (NYSE:LII) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares NWPX Infrastructure and Lennox International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NWPX Infrastructure	8.49%	12.22%	7.93%
Lennox International	14.61%	66.42%	19.16%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for NWPX Infrastructure and Lennox International, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NWPX Infrastructure	0	2	2	1	2.80
Lennox International	2	9	5	0	2.19

NWPX Infrastructure presently has a consensus price target of $110.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.15%. Lennox International has a consensus price target of $540.33, suggesting a potential upside of 38.42%. Given Lennox International’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Lennox International is more favorable than NWPX Infrastructure.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.6% of NWPX Infrastructure shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.1% of Lennox International shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of NWPX Infrastructure shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of Lennox International shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares NWPX Infrastructure and Lennox International”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NWPX Infrastructure	$526.00 million	1.97	$35.41 million	$4.99	21.58
Lennox International	$5.20 billion	2.60	$805.80 million	$22.12	17.65

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

Volatility and Risk

NWPX Infrastructure has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lennox International has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lennox International beats NWPX Infrastructure on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NWPX Infrastructure

Northwest Pipe Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and supply of water-related infrastructure products in North America. It operates in two segments, Engineered Steel Pressure Pipe (SPP) and Precast Infrastructure and Engineered Systems (Precast). The SPP segment offers large-diameter and high-pressure steel pipeline systems for use in water infrastructure applications, which are primarily related to drinking water systems. Its products are also used for hydroelectric power systems, wastewater systems, seismic resiliency, and other applications. In addition, this segment makes products for industrial plant piping systems and certain structural applications. The Precast segment provides stormwater and wastewater technology products, precast, and reinforced concrete products, including reinforced concrete pipe, manholes, box culverts, vaults and catch basins, pump lift stations, oil water separators, biofiltration units, steel casing pipes, and bar-wrapped concrete cylinder pipes, as well as pipeline system joints, fittings, specialized components, and other environmental and engineered solutions. The company sells its water infrastructure products under ParkUSA, Geneva Pipe and Precast, Permalok, and Northwest Pipe Company brands primarily to installation contractors. Northwest Pipe Company was incorporated in 1966 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington.

About Lennox International

Lennox International Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets a range of products for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration markets in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The Home Comfort Solutions segment provides furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, packaged heating and cooling systems, indoor air quality equipment, comfort control products, and replacement parts and supplies; residential heating, ventilation, cooling equipment, and air conditioning; and evaporator coils and unit heaters under Lennox, Dave Lennox Signature Collection, Armstrong Air, Ducane, AirEase, Concord, MagicPak, Advanced Distributor Products, Allied, Elite Series, Merit Series, Comfort Sync, Healthy Climate, iComfort, ComfortSense, and Lennox Stores name. The Building Climate Solutions segment offers unitary heating and air conditioning equipment, applied systems, controls, installation and service of commercial heating and cooling equipment, variable refrigerant flow commercial, curb, curb adapters, drop box diffusers, HVAC recycling, and salvage service. This segment also provides condensing units, unit coolers, fluid coolers, air cooled condensers, air handlers, and refrigeration rack systems for preserving food and other perishables; and compressor racks and industrial process chillers under the Lennox, Model L, CORE, Enlight, Xion, Energence, Prodigy, Strategos, Raider, Lennox VRF, Lennox National Account Services, Allied Commercial, Elite, AES Industries, Mechanical, and Reclaim, Heatcraft Worldwide and Chandler Refrigeration, Bohn, MAGNA, Larkin, FriguaBohn, IntelliGen, and Interlink brand name. In addition, the company provides small package units, rooftop units, chillers, air handlers, and fan coils. It sells its products and services through direct sales, distributors, and company-owned parts and supplies stores. The company was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Richardson, Texas.