Analyzing North American Construction Group (NYSE:NOA) & Forum Energy Technologies (NYSE:FET)

North American Construction Group (NYSE:NOA) and Forum Energy Technologies (NYSE:FET) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

North American Construction Group has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forum Energy Technologies has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.0% of North American Construction Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.6% of Forum Energy Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.7% of North American Construction Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.9% of Forum Energy Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for North American Construction Group and Forum Energy Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
North American Construction Group	1	6	0	0	1.86
Forum Energy Technologies	2	0	0	0	1.00

Profitability

This table compares North American Construction Group and Forum Energy Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
North American Construction Group	2.82%	17.15%	4.16%
Forum Energy Technologies	-13.65%	-2.51%	-1.05%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares North American Construction Group and Forum Energy Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
North American Construction Group	$850.88 million	0.52	$32.17 million	$0.87	16.95
Forum Energy Technologies	$816.40 million	0.38	-$135.33 million	($8.89)	-2.90

North American Construction Group has higher revenue and earnings than Forum Energy Technologies. Forum Energy Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than North American Construction Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

North American Construction Group beats Forum Energy Technologies on 12 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About North American Construction Group

North American Construction Group Ltd. provides mining and heavy civil construction services to customers in the resource development and industrial construction sectors in Australia, Canada, and the United States. The company operates Heavy Equipment – Canada, Heavy Equipment – Australia, and Other segments. It also offers mine management services for thermal coal mines; and construction and operations support services in the Canadian oil sands region. In addition, the company provides fully maintained heavy equipment rentals and full service mine operations support at metallurgical and thermal coal mines; heavy equipment rentals to iron ore, gold and lithium producers; and heavy equipment maintenance, component remanufacturing, and full equipment rebuild services to mining companies and other heavy equipment operators, as well as supplies production-critical components to the mining and construction industry. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a heavy equipment fleet of 900 units. The company was formerly known as North American Energy Partners Inc. and changed its name to North American Construction Group Ltd. in April 2018. North American Construction Group Ltd. was incorporated in 1953 and is headquartered in Acheson, Canada.

About Forum Energy Technologies

Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes products serving the oil, natural gas, industrial, and renewable energy industries in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Drilling & Downhole, Completions, and Production. The Drilling & Downhole segment designs, manufactures, and supplies products, and provides related services to the drilling, well construction, artificial lift, and subsea energy construction and services markets, including applications in oil and natural gas, renewable energy, defense, and communications. This segment offers drilling technologies consisting of capital equipment and a line of products consumed in the drilling process; well construction casing and cementing equipment, and products for artificial lift equipment and cables; and subsea remotely operated vehicles and trenchers, submarine rescue vehicles, specialty components and tools, and technical services. The Completions segment offers hydraulic fracturing pumps, cooling systems, high-pressure flexible hoses, and flow iron for pressure pumping markets; wireline cable and pressure control equipment for well completion and intervention service markets; and coiled tubing strings and coiled line pipe and related services. The Production segment designs, manufactures, and supplies products, and provides related equipment and services for production and infrastructure markets. This segment offers engineered process systems, production equipment, specialty separation equipment, and various industrial valves for oil and natural gas customers, power generation, renewable energy, and other general industrial applications. The company was formerly known as Forum Oilfield Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. in August 2010. Forum Energy Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.