Financial Review: WSP Global (OTCMKTS:WSPOF) & Energy Services of America (NASDAQ:ESOA)

WSP Global (OTCMKTS:WSPOF) and Energy Services of America (NASDAQ:ESOA) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

68.2% of WSP Global shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.1% of Energy Services of America shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.7% of Energy Services of America shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares WSP Global and Energy Services of America’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WSP Global	N/A	N/A	N/A
Energy Services of America	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for WSP Global and Energy Services of America, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WSP Global	0	0	1	0	3.00
Energy Services of America	0	0	1	0	3.00

Energy Services of America has a consensus target price of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 102.12%. Given Energy Services of America’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Energy Services of America is more favorable than WSP Global.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares WSP Global and Energy Services of America”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WSP Global	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.48	135.25
Energy Services of America	$367.91 million	N/A	N/A	$0.18	56.78

Energy Services of America is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WSP Global, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

WSP Global pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Energy Services of America pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. WSP Global pays out 101.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Energy Services of America pays out 65.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Energy Services of America is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Energy Services of America beats WSP Global on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About WSP Global

WSP Global Inc. operates as a professional services consulting firm in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, and internationally. It advises, plans, designs, and manages projects for rail, transit, aviation, highways, bridges, tunnels, water, maritime, and urban infrastructure for public and private clients, construction contractors, and other partners. The company also provides engineering and consultancy services, such as decarbonization strategies, digital building design to building engineering design, and project management services. In addition, it works with and advises governments and private sector in earth sciences and environmental sustainability to conduct due diligence, permit approvals, regulatory compliance, waste/hazardous materials management, geotechnical and mining engineering, environmental/ social impact assessments, feasibility, and land remediation studies. Further, the company offers energy clients support, including large-scale power plants, renewables clean energy investments, smaller on-site power generation and efficiency programs, energy transmission, storage and distribution from pre-feasibility studies and community engagement through operation and decommissioning; and provides siting and licensing, procurement, construction management, engineering, process design, and productivity analysis to food and beverage, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, aerospace, automotive, technology, and chemicals industries, as well as operation, maintenance, and decommissioning services during the facility’s active life. Additionally, it offers strategic advisory services comprising planning and advisory, management, and technology and sustainability services. The company was formerly known as GENIVAR Inc. and changed its name to WSP Global Inc. in January 2014. WSP Global Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

About Energy Services of America

Energy Services of America Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides contracting services for utilities and energy related companies in the United States. The company constructs, replaces, and repairs interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines and storage facilities for utility companies and private natural gas companies; and provides services relating to pipeline, storage facilities, and plant works. It also offers electrical and mechanical installation, and repair services, including substation and switchyard, site preparation, equipment setting, pipe fabrication and installation, packaged buildings, transformers, and other ancillary works for the gas, petroleum power, chemical, water and sewer, and automotive industries. In addition, the company provides corrosion protection services, horizontal drilling services, liquid pipeline and pump station construction, production facility construction, water and sewer pipeline installation, and various maintenance and repair services, as well as other services related to pipeline construction. Further, it serves customers primarily in West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. Energy Services of America Corporation was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Huntington, West Virginia.