Contrasting Cardinal Infrastructure Group (NASDAQ:CDNL) & Quanta Services (NYSE:PWR)

Cardinal Infrastructure Group (NASDAQ:CDNL) and Quanta Services (NYSE:PWR) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Cardinal Infrastructure Group and Quanta Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cardinal Infrastructure Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Quanta Services	4.03%	20.55%	7.34%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

90.5% of Quanta Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 61.7% of Cardinal Infrastructure Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Quanta Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Cardinal Infrastructure Group and Quanta Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cardinal Infrastructure Group	0	2	4	0	2.67
Quanta Services	3	7	23	0	2.61

Cardinal Infrastructure Group currently has a consensus target price of $49.25, suggesting a potential upside of 209.36%. Quanta Services has a consensus target price of $763.04, suggesting a potential upside of 18.85%. Given Cardinal Infrastructure Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Cardinal Infrastructure Group is more favorable than Quanta Services.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cardinal Infrastructure Group and Quanta Services”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cardinal Infrastructure Group	$456.05 million	1.66	$22.69 million	$0.55	28.95
Quanta Services	$32.91 billion	2.93	$1.03 billion	$8.73	73.54

Quanta Services has higher revenue and earnings than Cardinal Infrastructure Group. Cardinal Infrastructure Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Quanta Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Quanta Services beats Cardinal Infrastructure Group on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cardinal Infrastructure Group

We provide a comprehensive suite of infrastructure services to the residential, commercial, industrial, municipal, and state infrastructure markets. Our operations leverage a large highly skilled workforce and a fleet of specialized equipment to deliver wet utility installations (water, sewer, and stormwater systems), as well as grading, site clearing, erosion control, drilling and blasting, paving, and other related site services. We are becoming the platform of choice for a diverse array of infrastructure construction projects in our target geographies that require high-level technical expertise and sophistication. We seek to safely execute site work solutions within both the individual project’s schedule and budget, while strengthening our relationships with our growing list of customers. We believe we are one of the fastest-growing, full-service turnkey infrastructure services companies in the Southeastern United States. We deliver our suite of comprehensive infrastructure services that support the planning, preparation, installation, and development of residential, commercial, industrial, municipal, and state infrastructure projects primarily through in-house teams and equipment, significantly reducing the need for outsourcing or subcontractors which enables industry-leading project execution. Led by an experienced, long-tenured management team and supported by talented project managers, we are driven by a culture of safety and employee development. Our high-level expertise, technical sophistication, and expedited delivery of services result in strong margins. We believe we are well positioned to continue growing our revenue and profitability in a very fragmented and highly attractive industry. The Southeastern United States is one of the fastest-growing regions with respect to population and job growth. The three distinct and attractive markets in which we primarily operate today (the greater Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro areas of North Carolina) have experienced a combined annual population growth of 6.6% from 2020 to 2024, compared to 2.6% for the rest of the United States. Our footprint is strategically aligned with the North Carolina Research Triangle, which houses numerous educational institutions and knowledge-sector companies that are among the core drivers of job growth in the state. In 2024, North Carolina issued approximately nine new housing permits per 1,000 residents, compared to about four new permits per 1,000 residents for the United States overall. We maintain deep, long-standing relationships with a diverse customer base, including some of the largest regional and national home builders, as well as general contractors supporting commercial and industrial construction. We believe these relationships enable us to consistently win new contracts and expand both within our current markets and into new geographies. We are already fully integrated within our Raleigh market and are completing integration buildouts in our other markets. We believe this significantly reduces wait times between each phase of construction, minimizes timeline risk, and increases the likelihood of successful execution. As the first step in the construction process, customers highly value our speed of delivery, quality of work, and reputation for excellence, which results in recurring business and better margins. Our dedication to proven processes, technology, and safety has enabled our strong growth and reputation. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, we generated revenue of approximately $310.2 million, supported by a robust backlog of approximately $646.0 million at September 30, 2025, compared to revenue of approximately $230.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. For the year ended December 31, 2024, we generated revenue of approximately $315.2 million, supported by a robust backlog of approximately $512 million at December 31, 2024, compared to revenue of approximately $248.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and a backlog of approximately $401 million at December 31, 2023. Cardinal NC was founded in 2013 by Jeremy Spivey, our Chief Executive Officer, in Raleigh, North Carolina. We originated as a niche provider of wet utilities installation and have, over time, both organically and through acquisitions, added capabilities, including grading, site clearing, erosion control, drilling and blasting, paving, and related site services, to become a full-service, end-to-end provider of turnkey infrastructure services. Acquisitions have been an integral part of our growth since our founding, and we believe they account for approximately 27% of our growth since 2013. We have completed six acquisitions to date. We deepened our presence within the Raleigh market through the acquisition of Harrelson Utility Repair & Contracting Inc. in 2021 and G. Goodwin Enterprises, LLC in 2022. We subsequently expanded into the Charlotte area through the acquisition of Monroe Roadways, Inc. in July 2023 and Purcell Construction, Inc. in January 2025. In 2024, we expanded into the Greensboro market organically, and in May 2025, we acquired Page & Associates, Inc., a local provider based in Greensboro. In October 2025, we acquired Red Clay Industries, Inc., a provider of asphalt paving, concrete contracting, concrete reclamation and soil stabilization in North Carolina. Our principal executive offices are located in Raleigh, NC.

About Quanta Services

Quanta Services, Inc. provides infrastructure solutions for the electric and gas utility, renewable energy, communications, and pipeline and energy industries in the United States, Canada, Australia, and internationally. The company’s Electric Power Infrastructure Solutions segment engages in the design, procurement, construction, upgrade, repair, and maintenance of electric power transmission and distribution infrastructure and substation facilities; installation, maintenance, and upgrade of electric power infrastructure projects; installation of smart grid technologies on electric power networks; and design, installation, maintenance, and repair of commercial and industrial wirings. This segment also offers aviation services; emergency restoration services; and other engineering and technical services; design and construction solutions to wireline and wireless communications, cable multi-system operators, and other customers; and training for electric workers, as well as training for the gas distribution and communications industries. The company’s Renewable Energy Infrastructure Solutions segment is involved in engineering, procurement, construction, repair, and maintenance of wind, solar, and hydropower generation facilities, as well as battery storage facilities; and provision of engineering and construction services for substations and switchyards, transmission, and other electrical infrastructures. The company’s Underground Utility and Infrastructure Solutions segment offers design, engineering, procurement, construction, upgrade, repair, and maintenance services for natural gas systems for gas utility customers; fabrication services for pipeline support systems and structures and facilities; and engineering and construction services for pipeline and storage systems, and compressor and pump stations. The company was formerly known as Fabal Construction, Inc. and changed its name to Quanta Services, Inc. in November 1997. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.