Comparing Fluor (NYSE:FLR) & Weir Group (OTCMKTS:WEGRY)

Weir Group (OTCMKTS:WEGRY) and Fluor (NYSE:FLR) are both construction companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Weir Group and Fluor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Weir Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fluor	25.35%	9.27%	4.06%

Volatility and Risk

Weir Group has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fluor has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.1% of Fluor shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Fluor shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Weir Group and Fluor, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Weir Group	0	2	1	2	3.00
Fluor	0	4	4	0	2.50

Fluor has a consensus target price of $49.5714, suggesting a potential upside of 18.62%. Given Fluor’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Fluor is more favorable than Weir Group.

Dividends

Weir Group pays an annual dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Fluor pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Fluor pays out 1.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Weir Group and Fluor”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Weir Group	$3.20 billion	N/A	$398.96 million	N/A	N/A
Fluor	$16.31 billion	0.41	$2.15 billion	$24.27	1.72

Fluor has higher revenue and earnings than Weir Group.

Summary

Fluor beats Weir Group on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Weir Group

The Weir Group PLC produces and sells highly engineered original equipment worldwide. It operates in two segments, Minerals and ESCO. The Minerals segment offers engineering, manufacturing, and service processing technology for the use in abrasive high-wear mining applications; and differentiated technology for the use in infrastructure and general industrial markets. The ESCO segment provides ground engaging tools for large mining machines. This segment also offers cloud-based Artificial Intelligence solutions to the mining industry; manufactures and distributes highly engineered wear parts; and offers aftermarket services to the mining industry. The company offers its products under the Accumin, All-Cast, Aspir, Bucyrus Blades, Carbide Plus, Cavex, Delta Industrial, Enduron, ESCO, EverSharp, GEHO, GeoVor, Infinity, Isogate, Kwik-Lok, Lewis, Linacure, Linagard, Linard, Linatex, Loadmaster, MaxTemp, Motion Metrics, Multiflo, Nemisys, Posilok, Production Master, ProFill, Sand,aster, Super V, SV2, Synertrex, TopLock, Trio, UltraEdge, Ultrlok, Uni-Lok, Vulco, Warman, and Whisler Plus brands. The Weir Group PLC was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in Glasgow, the United Kingdom.

About Fluor

Fluor Corporation provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC); fabrication and modularization; operation and maintenance; asset integrity; and project management services worldwide. The company operates through Energy Solutions, Urban Solutions, Mission Solutions, and Other segments. The Energy Solutions segment provides solutions to the energy transition markets, including asset decarbonization, carbon capture, renewable fuels, waste-to-energy, green chemicals, hydrogen, nuclear power, and other low-carbon energy sources. It also provides consulting services, including feasibility studies, process assessments, and project finance structuring; and a range of services for small modular reactor technologies, conventional and advanced nuclear reactor technologies. This segment serves the production and fuels, chemicals, LNG, power markets, chemicals and petrochemical industries. The Urban Solutions segment offers EPC and project management services to the infrastructure, advanced technologies, life sciences, and mining and metals industries. This segment also provides staffing services to the company and third-party clients with technical, professional, and craft resources on a contract or permanent placement basis. The Mission Solutions segment offers technical solutions to the U.S. and other governments. It also delivers solutions for nuclear security and operation, nuclear waste management, and laboratory management; and operation and maintenance, logistics, EPC, and life support solutions for mission-critical facilities across U.S. military service organizations. This segment offers site management, environmental remediation, and decommissioning for nuclear remediation at governmental facilities, as well as services to commercial nuclear clients. Fluor Corporation was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.