Head-To-Head Review: Aris Water Solutions (NYSE:ARIS) and North American Construction Group (NYSE:NOA)

Aris Water Solutions (NYSE:ARIS – Get Rating) and North American Construction Group (NYSE:NOA – Get Rating) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Aris Water Solutions has a beta of 1.63, indicating that its stock price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, North American Construction Group has a beta of 1.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Aris Water Solutions pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. North American Construction Group pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Aris Water Solutions pays out 150.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. North American Construction Group pays out 15.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. North American Construction Group has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Aris Water Solutions and North American Construction Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aris Water Solutions	0.53%	6.23%	3.20%
North American Construction Group	9.01%	25.16%	8.06%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Aris Water Solutions and North American Construction Group’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aris Water Solutions	$341.60 million	1.50	$1.70 million	$0.24	36.96
North American Construction Group	$835.43 million	0.61	$51.82 million	$1.85	10.39

North American Construction Group has higher revenue and earnings than Aris Water Solutions. North American Construction Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aris Water Solutions, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Aris Water Solutions and North American Construction Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aris Water Solutions	0	2	5	0	2.71
North American Construction Group	0	2	0	0	2.00

Aris Water Solutions currently has a consensus target price of $13.86, suggesting a potential upside of 56.22%. North American Construction Group has a consensus target price of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 24.87%. Given Aris Water Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Aris Water Solutions is more favorable than North American Construction Group.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

39.5% of Aris Water Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.2% of North American Construction Group shares are held by institutional investors. 29.8% of Aris Water Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of North American Construction Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

North American Construction Group beats Aris Water Solutions on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aris Water Solutions

(Get Rating)

Aris Water Solutions, Inc., an environmental infrastructure and solutions company, provides water handling and recycling solutions. The company's produced water handling business gathers, transports, unless recycled, and handles produced water generated from oil and natural gas production. Its water solutions business develops and operates recycling facilities to treat, store, and recycle produced water. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About North American Construction Group

(Get Rating)

North American Construction Group Ltd. engages in providing mining and heavy construction services. It offers mining and heavy construction services to customers in the resource development and industrial construction sectors. The firm focuses on supporting the construction and operation of surface mines in the oil sands. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Acheson, Canada.