Head to Head Contrast: Stantec (NYSE:STN) and Vesuvius (OTCMKTS:CKSNY)

Vesuvius (OTCMKTS:CKSNY) and Stantec (NYSE:STN) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Vesuvius and Stantec’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vesuvius	N/A	N/A	N/A
Stantec	5.91%	19.70%	8.07%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vesuvius and Stantec”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vesuvius	$2.39 billion	0.60	$68.84 million	N/A	N/A
Stantec	$5.83 billion	1.42	$343.11 million	$3.21	22.95

Stantec has higher revenue and earnings than Vesuvius.

Risk and Volatility

Vesuvius has a beta of -0.25, indicating that its stock price is 125% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stantec has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Vesuvius pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Stantec pays an annual dividend of $0.69 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Stantec pays out 21.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stantec has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Vesuvius and Stantec, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vesuvius	0	0	0	0	0.00
Stantec	0	2	5	0	2.71

Stantec has a consensus target price of $175.00, suggesting a potential upside of 137.50%. Given Stantec’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Stantec is more favorable than Vesuvius.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.9% of Stantec shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Stantec shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Stantec beats Vesuvius on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vesuvius

Vesuvius plc is engaged in molten metal flow engineering, principally serving the steel and foundry industries. It develops and manufactures high-technology products and solutions for supply to the steel and casting industries. The Company operates through two segments: Steel and Foundry. The Steel division consists of various product lines, such as Steel Flow Control, Advanced Refractories and Technical Services. Its solution is a fully integrated robotic spray application system with a coupled mixing and laser setting system for the accurate location of the tundish furniture and mix preparation. The automatic robotic mixing and application system is fully contained and shielded with automatic shutdown if someone enters the working zone inside the tundish stand. Its technology allows robots to handle various tasks, such as manipulating steel samplers and temperature or hydrogen sensors, and to distribute powder into the tundish.

About Stantec

Stantec Inc. provides professional services in the areas of infrastructure and facilities to the public and private sectors in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It offers evaluation, planning, and designing infrastructure solutions; solutions for sustainable water resources, planning, management, and infrastructure; environmental services; integrated architecture, engineering, interior design, and planning solutions for buildings; and energy and resources solutions. The company also provides consulting services in engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics. In addition, it offers planning and design services to clients in residential, logistics, retail, infrastructure, energy, higher education, and urban regeneration sectors; architectural and interior design, and planning services in the science and technology, commercial workplace, higher education, residential, and hospitality markets. Further, the company provides transportation advisory, transport engineering, and technical design; project delivery consultancy services for mining, resources, and industrial infrastructure projects; paleontological and archaeological services for the rail, transportation, water, and power and energy sectors; and environmental and cultural resource compliance services. Additionally, it offers consulting services in sustainable building design, energy infrastructure upgrades, sustainable district heating network, and e-mobility; and planning, design, construction administration, commissioning, maintenance, decommissioning, and remediation services. The company was formerly known as Stanley Technology Group Inc. and changed its name to Stantec Inc. in October 1998. Stantec Inc. was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada.