Head-To-Head Contrast: Hillman Solutions (NASDAQ:HLMN) & Wabash National (NYSE:WNC)

Hillman Solutions (NASDAQ:HLMN) and Wabash National (NYSE:WNC) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, earnings and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Hillman Solutions and Wabash National’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hillman Solutions	2.57%	9.11%	4.70%
Wabash National	-5.48%	-36.59%	-10.27%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Hillman Solutions and Wabash National, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hillman Solutions	1	2	2	1	2.50
Wabash National	1	1	2	0	2.25

Hillman Solutions presently has a consensus target price of $12.67, indicating a potential upside of 79.92%. Wabash National has a consensus target price of $21.67, indicating a potential upside of 53.74%. Given Hillman Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Hillman Solutions is more favorable than Wabash National.

Risk & Volatility

Hillman Solutions has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wabash National has a beta of 1.48, meaning that its share price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.1% of Hillman Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.0% of Wabash National shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of Hillman Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Wabash National shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Hillman Solutions and Wabash National”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hillman Solutions	$1.55 billion	0.88	$40.31 million	$0.22	32.00
Wabash National	$1.54 billion	0.37	$211.45 million	($1.93)	-7.30

Wabash National has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Hillman Solutions. Wabash National is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hillman Solutions, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Hillman Solutions beats Wabash National on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hillman Solutions

Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hillman is a leading North American provider of complete hardware solutions, delivered with industry best customer service to over 40,000 locations. Hillman designs innovative product and merchandising solutions for complex categories that deliver an outstanding customer experience to home improvement centers, mass merchants, national and regional hardware stores, pet supply stores, and OEM & Industrial customers. Leveraging a world-class distribution and sales network, Hillman delivers a “small business” experience with “big business” efficiency.

About Wabash National

Wabash National Corporation provides connected solutions for the transportation, logistics, and distribution industries primarily in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Transportation Solutions and Parts & Services. The Transportation Solutions segment designs and manufactures transportation-related equipment and products dry and refrigerated van trailers, platform trailers, tank trailers, and truck-mounted tanks; truck bodies for dry-freight transportation; cargo and cargo XL bodies for commercial applications; refrigerated truck bodies; platform truck bodies; and used trailers, as well as laminated hardwood oak flooring products. The Parts & Services segment provides aftermarket parts and services; steel flatbed bodies, truck body mounting, shelving for package delivery, partitions, roof racks, hitches, liftgates, thermal solutions, and others; truck body repair parts; and door repair and replacement, collision repair, and basic maintenance services. It also develops and scales a digital marketplace for the transportation and logistics distribution industry; operates a parts and services distribution platform; and stainless steel storage tanks and silos, mixers, and processors for the dairy, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, craft brewing, and biotech markets; trailers as a service; and composite products, including truck bodies, overhead doors, and other industrial application products, as well as used trailers. The company offers its products under the Wabash, DuraPlate, DuraPlateHD, DuraPlate AeroSkirt, and AeroSkirt CX brands, as well as EcoNex brand. It serves its products to truckload common carriers, leasing companies, private fleet carriers, less-than-truckload common carriers, and package carriers. Wabash National Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana.