Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) versus Bowman Consulting Group (NASDAQ:BWMN) Head-To-Head Review

Bowman Consulting Group (NASDAQ:BWMN) and Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

Bowman Consulting Group has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Granite Construction has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bowman Consulting Group and Granite Construction”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bowman Consulting Group	$490.02 million	1.50	$12.85 million	$0.40	106.30
Granite Construction	$4.42 billion	1.23	$193.00 million	($4.31)	-28.78

Granite Construction has higher revenue and earnings than Bowman Consulting Group. Granite Construction is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bowman Consulting Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Bowman Consulting Group and Granite Construction’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bowman Consulting Group	1.30%	2.67%	1.20%
Granite Construction	-3.32%	27.83%	7.17%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.2% of Bowman Consulting Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.5% of Bowman Consulting Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Granite Construction shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Bowman Consulting Group and Granite Construction, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bowman Consulting Group	1	7	0	0	1.88
Granite Construction	1	2	2	1	2.50

Bowman Consulting Group currently has a consensus target price of $44.71, suggesting a potential upside of 5.16%. Granite Construction has a consensus target price of $158.50, suggesting a potential upside of 27.76%. Given Granite Construction’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Granite Construction is more favorable than Bowman Consulting Group.

Summary

Granite Construction beats Bowman Consulting Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bowman Consulting Group

Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. provides a range of real estate, energy, infrastructure, and environmental management solutions in the United States. It offers civil and site engineering services, such as conceptual land planning, environmental consulting and permitting, planning/zoning and entitlements, roadway and highway designs, erosion and sediment designs, stormwater management designs, construction administration, traffic studies, floodplain studies, and utility relocation designs; and commissioning and energy efficiency services comprise construction observation, direct systems functional performance testing, system development readiness checklist, post occupancy review, review of construction documents, deferred/seasonal functional testing, final commissioning report, and commissioning review of submittals. The company also provides construction management services, including constructability review, value engineering, budgeting and cost estimating, interagency and utility coordination, onsite observation and report evaluation, public communication and outreach, and resident engineer services, as well as bid solicitation, documentation, and preparation services; and environmental consulting services consisting of wetlands and waters of the U.S. delineations, natural resources inventories, wildlife and vegetation surveys, threatened and endangered species surveys, endangered species conservation and management, wetland creation and enhancement design, NEPA documentation, section 404/401 permitting and compliance, NPDES permitting, and phase I environmental site assessment. In addition, it offers landscape architecture, land procurement and right-of-way acquisition, structural engineering, surveying and geospatial engineering, and transportation and water resources engineering services, as well as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

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.