Critical Contrast: Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) & NWPX Infrastructure (NASDAQ:NWPX)

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) and NWPX Infrastructure (NASDAQ:NWPX) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Century Aluminum and NWPX Infrastructure, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Century Aluminum	0	0	3	1	3.25
NWPX Infrastructure	0	3	0	0	2.00

Century Aluminum currently has a consensus target price of $25.67, suggesting a potential downside of 12.70%. NWPX Infrastructure has a consensus target price of $57.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.45%. Given NWPX Infrastructure’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe NWPX Infrastructure is more favorable than Century Aluminum.

Profitability

This table compares Century Aluminum and NWPX Infrastructure’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Century Aluminum	4.94%	18.02%	6.21%
NWPX Infrastructure	6.69%	8.93%	5.61%

Risk and Volatility

Century Aluminum has a beta of 2.52, indicating that its share price is 152% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NWPX Infrastructure has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Century Aluminum and NWPX Infrastructure”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Century Aluminum	$2.22 billion	1.24	$336.80 million	$1.16	25.34
NWPX Infrastructure	$492.55 million	1.04	$34.21 million	$3.32	15.97

Century Aluminum has higher revenue and earnings than NWPX Infrastructure. NWPX Infrastructure is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Century Aluminum, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.6% of Century Aluminum shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.6% of NWPX Infrastructure shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Century Aluminum shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.2% of NWPX Infrastructure 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.

Summary

Century Aluminum beats NWPX Infrastructure on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production of standard-grade and value-added primary aluminum products in the United States and Iceland. It also owns and operates an alumina production facility in Iceland, and a carbon anode production facility in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About NWPX Infrastructure

Northwest Pipe Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and supply of water-related infrastructure products in North America. It operates in two segments, Engineered Steel Pressure Pipe (SPP) and Precast Infrastructure and Engineered Systems (Precast). The SPP segment offers large-diameter and high-pressure steel pipeline systems for use in water infrastructure applications, which are primarily related to drinking water systems. Its products are also used for hydroelectric power systems, wastewater systems, seismic resiliency, and other applications. In addition, this segment makes products for industrial plant piping systems and certain structural applications. The Precast segment provides stormwater and wastewater technology products, precast, and reinforced concrete products, including reinforced concrete pipe, manholes, box culverts, vaults and catch basins, pump lift stations, oil water separators, biofiltration units, steel casing pipes, and bar-wrapped concrete cylinder pipes, as well as pipeline system joints, fittings, specialized components, and other environmental and engineered solutions. The company sells its water infrastructure products under ParkUSA, Geneva Pipe and Precast, Permalok, and Northwest Pipe Company brands primarily to installation contractors. Northwest Pipe Company was incorporated in 1966 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington.