Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) vs. Worthington Enterprises (NYSE:WOR) Head-To-Head Contrast

Worthington Enterprises (NYSE:WOR) and Rayonier (NYSE:RYN) are both mid-cap construction companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Worthington Enterprises and Rayonier, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Worthington Enterprises	1	2	1	1	2.40
Rayonier	0	3	1	0	2.25

Worthington Enterprises presently has a consensus target price of $59.00, suggesting a potential downside of 11.56%. Rayonier has a consensus target price of $28.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.71%. Given Rayonier’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Rayonier is more favorable than Worthington Enterprises.

Risk and Volatility

Worthington Enterprises has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rayonier has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

51.6% of Worthington Enterprises shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of Rayonier shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of Worthington Enterprises shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Rayonier shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Worthington Enterprises pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Rayonier pays an annual dividend of $1.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Worthington Enterprises pays out 35.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Rayonier pays out 22.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Rayonier is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Worthington Enterprises and Rayonier”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Worthington Enterprises	$1.15 billion	2.88	$96.05 million	$1.91	34.93
Rayonier	$1.26 billion	3.20	$359.15 million	$4.95	5.30

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

Profitability

This table compares Worthington Enterprises and Rayonier’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Worthington Enterprises	8.33%	16.66%	9.21%
Rayonier	68.53%	3.39%	1.91%

Summary

Rayonier beats Worthington Enterprises on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Worthington Enterprises

Worthington Enterprises, Inc. operates as an industrial manufacturing company. It operates through three segments: Building Products, Consumer Products, and Sustainable Energy Solutions. The Building Products segment sells refrigerant and LPG cylinders, well water and expansion tanks, fire suppression tanks, chemical tanks, and foam and adhesive tanks for gas producers, and distributors. The Consumer Products segment provides products in the tools, outdoor living, and celebrations end markets. Its products include propane-filled cylinders for torches, camping stoves and other applications, LPG cylinders, handheld torches, helium-filled balloon kits, specialized hand tools and instruments, and drywall tools and accessories This segment sells its products primarily to mass merchandisers, retailers, and distributors under the Coleman, Bernzomatic, Balloon Time, Mag-Torch, General, Garden-Weasel, Pactool International, Hawkeye, Worthington Pro Grade, and Level5 brands. The Sustainable Energy Solutions segment sells onboard fueling systems and services, as well as gas containment solutions and services for storage, transport, and distribution of industrial gases. It includes high pressure and acetylene cylinders for life support systems and alternative fuel cylinders used to hold CNG and hydrogen for automobiles, buses, and light-duty trucks. The company was formerly known as Worthington Industries, Inc. Worthington Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

About Rayonier

Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. As of December 31, 2023, Rayonier owned or leased under long-term agreements approximately 2.7 million acres of timberlands located in the U.S. South (1.85 million acres), U.S. Pacific Northwest (418,000 acres) and New Zealand (421,000 acres).