Reviewing DIRTT Environmental Solutions (NASDAQ:DRTT) & AZZ (NYSE:AZZ)

DIRTT Environmental Solutions (NASDAQ:DRTT) and AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

58.7% of DIRTT Environmental Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.9% of AZZ shares are held by institutional investors. 40.5% of DIRTT Environmental Solutions shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of AZZ shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares DIRTT Environmental Solutions and AZZ”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DIRTT Environmental Solutions	$170.63 million	0.42	-$54.96 million	($0.25)	-2.73
AZZ	$1.65 billion	2.78	$317.26 million	$6.56	23.27

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for DIRTT Environmental Solutions and AZZ, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DIRTT Environmental Solutions	0	0	0	0	0.00
AZZ	0	3	4	0	2.57

AZZ has a consensus target price of $155.25, suggesting a potential upside of 1.70%. Given AZZ’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe AZZ is more favorable than DIRTT Environmental Solutions.

Risk and Volatility

DIRTT Environmental Solutions has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AZZ has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares DIRTT Environmental Solutions and AZZ’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DIRTT Environmental Solutions	-12.81%	-150.32%	-15.10%
AZZ	11.83%	14.18%	8.48%

Summary

AZZ beats DIRTT Environmental Solutions on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DIRTT Environmental Solutions

DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd. operates as a interior construction company in Canada. Its ICE software provides the industrialized construction system to design, visualize, organize, configure, and install the job. The company offers interior solutions to doors, casework, timber, electrical, networks, access floors, solid, glass, combination, leaf folding, and headwalls. It serves retail, technology, hospitality, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, education, government, military, professional, and financial service sectors. DIRTT Environmental Solutions Ltd. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

About AZZ

AZZ Inc. provides hot-dip galvanizing and coil coating solutions in North America. It offers metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot-dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing, powder coating, anodizing, and plating to steel fabrication and other industries, as well as to fabricators or manufacturers that provide services to the transmission and distribution, bridge and highway, petrochemical, and general industrial markets; and original equipment manufacturers. It also provides aesthetic and corrosion protective coatings and related value-added services for steel and aluminum coil primarily serving the construction; appliance; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; container; transportation; and other end markets. The company was incorporated in 1956 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.