James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX – Get Free Report) and Arcosa (NYSE:ACA – Get Free Report) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and risk.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings for James Hardie Industries and Arcosa, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| James Hardie Industries | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 2.77 |
| Arcosa | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2.43 |
James Hardie Industries presently has a consensus price target of $32.78, indicating a potential upside of 28.94%. Arcosa has a consensus price target of $141.25, indicating a potential downside of 3.57%. Given James Hardie Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe James Hardie Industries is more favorable than Arcosa.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
Profitability
This table compares James Hardie Industries and Arcosa’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| James Hardie Industries | 2.69% | 10.56% | 4.93% |
| Arcosa | 17.90% | 7.90% | 4.22% |
Risk and Volatility
James Hardie Industries has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its share price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Arcosa has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares James Hardie Industries and Arcosa”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| James Hardie Industries | $4.84 billion | 3.05 | $104.00 million | $0.25 | 101.68 |
| Arcosa | $2.88 billion | 2.49 | $208.40 million | $9.98 | 14.68 |
Arcosa has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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 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.
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.
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