Boise Cascade (NYSE:BCC) and Potlatch (NASDAQ:PCH) Head-To-Head Contrast

Boise Cascade (NYSE:BCC) and Potlatch (NASDAQ:PCH) are both mid-cap construction companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Boise Cascade has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Potlatch has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Boise Cascade and Potlatch, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Boise Cascade	0	3	4	0	2.57
Potlatch	0	0	7	0	3.00

Boise Cascade presently has a consensus target price of $116.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.28%. Potlatch has a consensus target price of $50.00, suggesting a potential upside of 24.38%. Given Boise Cascade’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Boise Cascade is more favorable than Potlatch.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Boise Cascade and Potlatch”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Boise Cascade	$6.62 billion	0.48	$376.35 million	$8.01	10.47
Potlatch	$1.06 billion	2.98	$21.88 million	$0.61	65.90

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.2% of Boise Cascade shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.1% of Potlatch shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Boise Cascade shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Potlatch shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Boise Cascade pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Potlatch pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Boise Cascade pays out 10.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Potlatch pays out 295.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Boise Cascade has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Boise Cascade and Potlatch’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Boise Cascade	4.72%	14.36%	8.95%
Potlatch	4.35%	2.36%	1.46%

Summary

Boise Cascade beats Potlatch on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Boise Cascade

Boise Cascade Company engages in manufacture of wood products and distribution of building materials in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments, Wood Products and Building Materials Distribution. The Wood Products segment manufactures laminated veneer lumber and laminated beams used in headers and beams; I-joists for residential and commercial flooring and roofing systems, and other structural applications; structural, appearance, and industrial plywood panels; and ponderosa pine shop lumber and appearance grade boards. The Building Materials Distribution segment distributes a line of building materials, including oriented strand boards, plywood, and lumber; general line items, such as siding, composite decking, doors, metal products, insulation, and roofing; and engineered wood products. It markets and sells its products to dealers, home improvement centers, wholesalers, specialty distributors, and industrial converters for use in the construction of new residential housing, repair-and-remodeling of existing housing, construction of light industrial and commercial buildings, and other industrial applications. Boise Cascade Company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.

About Potlatch

PotlatchDeltic Corporation (Nasdaq: PCH) is a leading Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) that owns nearly 2.2 million acres of timberlands in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina. Through its taxable REIT subsidiary, the company also operates six sawmills, an industrial-grade plywood mill, a residential and commercial real estate development business and a rural timberland sales program. PotlatchDeltic, a leader in sustainable forest management, is committed to environmental and social responsibility and to responsible governance.