Head-To-Head Contrast: INNOVATE (NYSE:VATE) versus MYR Group (NASDAQ:MYRG)

INNOVATE (NYSE:VATE) and MYR Group (NASDAQ:MYRG) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares INNOVATE and MYR Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
INNOVATE	-1.48%	N/A	-2.35%
MYR Group	4.13%	24.17%	9.96%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

34.3% of INNOVATE shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.9% of MYR Group shares are held by institutional investors. 57.7% of INNOVATE shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of MYR Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

INNOVATE has a beta of 2.43, indicating that its share price is 143% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MYR Group has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares INNOVATE and MYR Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
INNOVATE	$1.52 billion	0.06	-$60.60 million	($1.87)	-3.82
MYR Group	$3.66 billion	1.33	$118.42 million	$10.54	29.57

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for INNOVATE and MYR Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
INNOVATE	1	0	0	0	1.00
MYR Group	0	4	3	1	2.62

MYR Group has a consensus target price of $424.80, suggesting a potential upside of 36.32%. Given MYR Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MYR Group is more favorable than INNOVATE.

Summary

MYR Group beats INNOVATE on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About INNOVATE

INNOVATE Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates in infrastructure, life sciences, and spectrum areas in the United States. The Infrastructure segment provides industrial construction, structural steel, and facility maintenance services, such as fabrication and erection of structural steel and heavy steel plate services, and large-diameter water pipes and water storage tanks; fabrication of trusses and girders; and 3-D building information modeling and detailing for commercial, industrial, and infrastructure construction projects, such as buildings and office complexes, hotels and casinos, convention centers, sports arenas and stadiums, shopping malls, hospitals, dams, bridges, mines, metal processing, refineries, pulp and paper mills, and power plants. This segment also offers solutions for digital engineering, modeling and detailing, construction, and heavy equipment installation and facility services including maintenance, repair, and installation; and manufactures pollution control scrubbers, tunnel liners, pressure vessels, strainers, filters, separators, and customized products. The Life Sciences segment develops products to treat early osteoarthritis of the knee; and aesthetic and medical technologies for the skin. The Spectrum segment operates over-the-air broadcasting stations across the United States; and Azteca America, a Spanish-language broadcast network. The company was formerly known as HC2 Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to INNOVATE Corp. in September 2021. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About MYR Group

MYR Group Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides electrical construction services in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Transmission and Distribution, and Commercial and Industrial. The Transmission and Distribution segment offers a range of services on electric transmission and distribution networks, and substation facilities, including design, engineering, procurement, construction, upgrade, maintenance, and repair services with primary focus on construction, maintenance, and repair to customers in the electric utility industry; and services, including construction and maintenance of high voltage transmission lines, substations, and lower voltage underground and overhead distribution systems, clean energy projects, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure services, as well as emergency restoration services in response to hurricane, wildfire, ice, or other related damages. This segment serves as a prime contractor to customers, such as investor-owned utilities, cooperatives, private developers, government-funded utilities, independent power producers, independent transmission companies, industrial facility owners, and other contractors. The Commercial and Industrial segment provides a range of services, including design, installation, maintenance, and repair of commercial and industrial wiring; and installation of intelligent transportation systems, roadway lighting, and signalization for airports, hospitals, data centers, hotels, stadiums, commercial and industrial facilities, clean energy projects, manufacturing plants, processing facilities, water/waste-water treatment facilities, mining facilities, intelligent transportation systems, roadway lighting, signalization, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. This segment serves general contractors, commercial and industrial facility owners, governmental agencies, and developers. The company was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Thornton, Colorado.