Perma-Pipe International (NASDAQ:PPIH) and Tenaris (NYSE:TS) Financial Comparison

Perma-Pipe International (NASDAQ:PPIH) and Tenaris (NYSE:TS) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Perma-Pipe International and Tenaris, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Perma-Pipe International	0	0	0	0	0.00
Tenaris	2	1	5	0	2.38

Tenaris has a consensus target price of $44.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.85%. Given Tenaris’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Tenaris is more favorable than Perma-Pipe International.

Profitability

This table compares Perma-Pipe International and Tenaris’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Perma-Pipe International	7.31%	17.84%	7.81%
Tenaris	15.05%	10.54%	8.67%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Perma-Pipe International and Tenaris”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Perma-Pipe International	$158.38 million	1.07	$8.98 million	$1.54	13.77
Tenaris	$12.52 billion	1.69	$2.04 billion	$3.28	11.10

Tenaris has higher revenue and earnings than Perma-Pipe International. Tenaris is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Perma-Pipe International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.4% of Perma-Pipe International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.5% of Tenaris shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.0% of Perma-Pipe International shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Tenaris 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.

Volatility and Risk

Perma-Pipe International has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tenaris has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Tenaris beats Perma-Pipe International on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Perma-Pipe International

Perma-Pipe International Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engineers, designs, manufactures, and sells specialty piping and leak detection systems. It offers insulated and jacketed district heating and cooling piping systems for energy distribution from central energy plants to various locations; and primary and secondary containment piping systems for transporting chemicals, hazardous fluids, and petroleum products, as well as engages in the coating and insulation of oil and gas gathering and transmission pipelines. The company also offers liquid and powder based anti-corrosion coatings for external and internal surfaces of steel pipe, including shapes like bends, reducers, tees, and other spools/fittings that is used in pipelines for the transportation of oil and gas products and potable water. It has operations in the United States, Canada, the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, India, and internationally. The company was formerly known as MFRI, Inc. and changed its name to Perma-Pipe International Holdings, Inc. in March 2017. Perma-Pipe International Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Spring, Texas.

About Tenaris

Tenaris S.A., together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells seamless and welded steel tubular products and related services for the oil and gas industry, and other industrial applications. The company offers steel casings, tubing products, mechanical and structural pipes, line pipes, cold-drawn pipes, and premium joints and couplings; and coiled tubing products for oil and gas drilling and workovers, and subsea pipelines. It also manufactures sucker rods used in oil extraction activities and tubes for plumbing and construction applications; and offers oilfield/hydraulic fracturing services and energy and raw materials, and financial services. The company operates in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Tenaris S.A. was founded in 2001 and is based in Luxembourg. Tenaris S.A. operates as a subsidiary of Techint Holdings S.à r.l.