Financial Comparison: Owens Corning (NYSE:OC) & Latham Group (NASDAQ:SWIM)

Latham Group (NASDAQ:SWIM) and Owens Corning (NYSE:OC) are both construction companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Latham Group and Owens Corning, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Latham Group	1	0	3	0	2.50
Owens Corning	0	4	8	0	2.67

Latham Group currently has a consensus price target of $7.95, suggesting a potential upside of 5.72%. Owens Corning has a consensus price target of $185.10, suggesting a potential upside of 29.60%. Given Owens Corning’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Owens Corning is more favorable than Latham Group.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

84.0% of Latham Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.4% of Owens Corning shares are held by institutional investors. 8.6% of Latham Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Owens Corning shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Latham Group and Owens Corning”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Latham Group	$508.52 million	1.72	-$17.86 million	($0.12)	-62.67
Owens Corning	$10.98 billion	1.09	$647.00 million	$3.85	37.10

Owens Corning has higher revenue and earnings than Latham Group. Latham Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Owens Corning, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Latham Group has a beta of 1.74, suggesting that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Owens Corning has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Latham Group and Owens Corning’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Latham Group	-2.54%	-3.35%	-1.61%
Owens Corning	2.98%	24.49%	8.85%

Summary

Owens Corning beats Latham Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Latham Group

Latham Group, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets in-ground residential swimming pools in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. It offers a portfolio of pools and related products, including in-ground swimming pools that include fiber glass and packaged pools; and pool covers and liners under the Latham, Narellan, CoverStar, Radiant, and GLI brand names. The company was formerly known as Latham Topco, Inc. and changed its name to Latham Group, Inc. in March 2021. Latham Group, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Latham, New York.

About Owens Corning

Owens Corning manufactures and sells building and construction materials in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Roofing, Insulation, and Composites. The Roofing segment manufactures and sells laminate and strip asphalt roofing shingles, oxidized asphalt materials, and roofing components used in residential and commercial construction, and specialty applications. This segment sells its products through distributors, home centers, and lumberyards, as well as to roofing contractors for built-up roofing asphalt systems; and manufacturers in automotive, chemical, rubber, and construction industries. The Insulation segment manufactures and sells thermal and acoustical batts, loosefill insulation, spray foam insulation, foam sheathing and accessories under the Owens Corning PINK, and FIBERGLAS brands; and glass fiber pipe insulation, energy efficient flexible duct media, bonded and granulated mineral wool insulation, cellular glass insulation, and foam insulation under the FOAMULAR, FOAMGLAS, and Paroc brand names used in construction applications. This segment sells its products primarily to the insulation installers, home centers, lumberyards, retailers, and distributors. The Composites segment manufactures, fabricates, and sells glass reinforcements in the form of fiber; and glass fiber products in the form of fabrics, non-wovens, and composite lumber. Its products are used in building structures, roofing shingles, tubs and showers, pools, decking, flooring, pipes and tanks, poles, electrical equipment, and wind-energy turbine blades. This segment sells its products directly to parts molders, fabricators, and shingle manufacturers. The company was incorporated in 1938 and is headquartered in Toledo, Ohio.