Head to Head Contrast: Reliance (NYSE:RS) versus Titan Machinery (NASDAQ:TITN)

Titan Machinery (NASDAQ:TITN) and Reliance (NYSE:RS) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

78.4% of Titan Machinery shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.3% of Reliance shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.8% of Titan Machinery shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Reliance shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Titan Machinery has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Reliance has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Titan Machinery	-2.46%	-9.17%	-3.20%
Reliance	5.65%	12.51%	8.47%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Titan Machinery and Reliance”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Titan Machinery	$2.43 billion	0.23	-$54.17 million	($2.49)	-9.65
Reliance	$14.29 billion	1.40	$739.40 million	$17.20	22.80

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Titan Machinery and Reliance, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Titan Machinery	1	0	1	0	2.00
Reliance	1	5	2	1	2.33

Titan Machinery currently has a consensus target price of $29.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.67%. Reliance has a consensus target price of $379.83, suggesting a potential downside of 3.13%. Given Titan Machinery’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Titan Machinery is more favorable than Reliance.

Summary

Reliance beats Titan Machinery on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Titan Machinery

Titan Machinery Inc. owns and operates a network of full service agricultural and construction equipment stores in the United States, Europe, and Australia. It operates through four segments: Agriculture, Construction, Europe, and Australia. The company sells new and used equipment, including agricultural and construction equipment manufactured under the CNH Industrial family of brands, as well as equipment from various other manufacturers. Its agricultural equipment includes machinery and attachments for use in the production of food, fiber, feed grain, feed stock, and renewable energy; and home and garden applications, as well as maintenance of commercial, residential, and government properties. The company’s construction equipment comprises heavy construction machinery, light industrial machinery for commercial and residential construction, and road and highway construction machinery. It also sells maintenance and replacement parts. In addition, the company offers repair and maintenance services that include warranty repairs, off-site and on-site repair services, scheduling off-season maintenance services, and notifying customers of periodic service requirements; and training programs to customers. Further, it rents equipment; and provides ancillary equipment support services, such as equipment transportation, global positioning system signal subscriptions and other precision farming products, farm data management products, and CNH Industrial finance and insurance products. The company operates in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Washington, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, the United States; Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, and Ukraine, Europe; and New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria, Australia. Titan Machinery Inc. was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in West Fargo, North Dakota.

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.