Head-To-Head Survey: Reliance (NYSE:RS) vs. QXO (NYSE:QXO)

Reliance (NYSE:RS) and QXO (NYSE:QXO) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.3% of Reliance shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.7% of QXO shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Reliance shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 41.0% of QXO shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Reliance and QXO”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Reliance	$15.81 billion	1.31	$739.40 million	$17.20	23.66
QXO	$6.84 billion	2.02	-$279.40 million	($0.91)	-14.66

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

Volatility & Risk

Reliance has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, QXO has a beta of 2.23, indicating that its stock price is 123% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Reliance and QXO, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Reliance	1	6	2	0	2.11
QXO	1	1	14	1	2.88

Reliance currently has a consensus target price of $378.67, indicating a potential downside of 6.96%. QXO has a consensus target price of $29.71, indicating a potential upside of 122.76%. Given QXO’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe QXO is more favorable than Reliance.

Profitability

This table compares Reliance and QXO’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Reliance	5.65%	12.51%	8.47%
QXO	-6.02%	1.91%	1.02%

Summary

Reliance beats QXO on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Reliance

Reliance, Inc. operates as a diversified metal solutions provider and the metals service center company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company distributes a line of approximately 100,000 metal products, including alloy, aluminum, brass, copper, carbon steel, stainless steel, titanium, and specialty steel products; and provides metals processing services to general manufacturing, non-residential construction, transportation, aerospace, energy, electronics and semiconductor fabrication, and heavy industries. It sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers, which primarily include small machine shops and fabricators. The company was formerly known as Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. and changed its name to Reliance, Inc. in February 2024. Reliance, Inc. was founded in 1939 and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

About QXO

QXO, Inc. operates as a business application, technology, and consulting company in North America. The company provides solutions for accounting and business management, financial reporting, enterprise resource planning, human capital management, warehouse management systems, customer relationship management, and business intelligence. It also offers value-added services that focuses on consulting and professional, specialized programming, training, and technical support services. In addition, the company provides information technology managed services, such as cybersecurity, application hosting, disaster recovery, business continuity, cloud, and other services; and data back-up, network maintenance, and upgrade services. It serves small and medium-sized businesses primarily in the manufacturing, distribution, and service industries. QXO, Inc. is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.