Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA – Get Free Report) and Alfa Laval (OTCMKTS:ALFVY – Get Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and risk.
Profitability
This table compares Granite Construction and Alfa Laval’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Granite Construction | -3.32% | 27.83% | 7.17% |
| Alfa Laval | 11.63% | 18.41% | 8.16% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Granite Construction and Alfa Laval, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Granite Construction | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2.33 |
| Alfa Laval | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2.25 |
Granite Construction currently has a consensus price target of $158.50, indicating a potential upside of 51.50%. Given Granite Construction’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Granite Construction is more favorable than Alfa Laval.
Dividends
Granite Construction pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Alfa Laval pays an annual dividend of $0.61 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Granite Construction pays out -12.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alfa Laval pays out 28.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.
Risk & Volatility
Granite Construction has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alfa Laval has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Granite Construction and Alfa Laval”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Granite Construction | $4.42 billion | 1.03 | $193.00 million | ($4.31) | -24.27 |
| Alfa Laval | $7.12 billion | 3.14 | $845.40 million | $2.11 | 25.63 |
Alfa Laval has higher revenue and earnings than Granite Construction. Granite Construction is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alfa Laval, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
0.0% of Alfa Laval shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Granite Construction shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Alfa Laval beats Granite Construction on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Granite Construction
Granite Construction Incorporated operates as an infrastructure contractor in the United States. It operates through two segments: Construction and Materials segments. The Construction segment engages in the construction and rehabilitation of roads, pavement preservation, bridges, rail lines, airports, marine ports, dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, infrastructure, and site development for use by the public and water-related construction for municipal agencies, commercial water suppliers, industrial facilities, and energy companies; and construction of various complex projects, including infrastructure/site development, mining, public safety, tunnel, solar storage, and power related projects. The Materials segment is involved in the production of aggregates, asphalt concrete, liquid asphalt, and recycled materials production for internal use in our construction projects and sale to third parties. It also offers site preparation, mining, and infrastructure services for residential development, energy development, commercial and industrial sites, railways, residential development, and energy development; and provides construction management professional services. It serves federal agencies, state departments of transportation, local transit authorities, county and city public works departments, school districts and developers, utilities, contractors, landscapers, manufacturers of products requiring aggregate materials, retailers, homeowners, farmers, brokers, and private owners of industrial, commercial, and residential sites. Granite Construction Incorporated was incorporated in 1922 and is headquartered in Watsonville, California.
About Alfa Laval
Alfa Laval Corporate AB provides heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling products and solutions worldwide. It operates in three divisions: Energy, Food & Water, and Marine. The company offers oil/gas-fired steam and composite steam boilers, exhaust gas economizer, and ballast water treatment systems, and exhaust gas cleaning products. It also provides sensing and control, cleaning validation, condition monitoring, agitators, tank, powder mixers, fittings, and tubes, as well as wall mounted cleaning nozzles, rotary jet and heads; and tank accessories and covers. In addition, the company offers centrifugal, rotary lobe, three screw, twin screw, and circumferential piston pumps. Further, it provides butterfly, control and check, double seal, diaphragm, double seat, regulating, safety, sampling, shutter, single seat, and ball valves. Additionally, the company offers heat exchanger, tube-in-tube heat exchangers, and process shell-and-tube heat exchangers. Furthermore, it provides finned tube air heat, scraped surface heat exchangers, and various plate heat exchangers, wet surface, and HYAC hybrid air coolers. The company also offers decanters and separator related products. It serves energy, utilities, home, personal care, food, dairy, beverage, marine, transportation, pharmaceutical, biotech, water, and wastewater industries. Alfa Laval Corporate AB was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Lund, Sweden.
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