Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) vs. Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN) Financial Survey

Quanex Building Products (NYSE:NX) and Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN) are both small-cap construction companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Risk & Volatility

Quanex Building Products has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aspen Aerogels has a beta of 2.8, meaning that its stock price is 180% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Quanex Building Products and Aspen Aerogels, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Quanex Building Products	2	0	0	0	1.00
Aspen Aerogels	2	2	4	1	2.44

Aspen Aerogels has a consensus price target of $15.50, suggesting a potential upside of 82.91%. Given Aspen Aerogels’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Aspen Aerogels is more favorable than Quanex Building Products.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Quanex Building Products and Aspen Aerogels”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Quanex Building Products	$1.28 billion	0.56	$33.06 million	($6.22)	-2.49
Aspen Aerogels	$452.70 million	1.54	$13.38 million	($3.81)	-2.22

Quanex Building Products has higher revenue and earnings than Aspen Aerogels. Quanex Building Products is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aspen Aerogels, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.5% of Quanex Building Products shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.6% of Aspen Aerogels shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Quanex Building Products shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Aspen Aerogels shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Quanex Building Products and Aspen Aerogels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Quanex Building Products	-15.45%	10.48%	4.40%
Aspen Aerogels	-78.53%	2.92%	1.85%

Summary

Aspen Aerogels beats Quanex Building Products on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Quanex Building Products

Quanex Building Products Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides components for the fenestration industry in the United States, rest of Europe, Canada, Asia, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North American Fenestration, European Fenestration, and North American Cabinet Components. It offers flexible insulating glass spacers, extruded vinyl profiles, window and door screens, and precision-formed metal and wood products, as well as cabinet doors and other components for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the kitchen and bathroom cabinet industry. In addition, the company provides various non-fenestration components and products, including solar panel sealants, trim moldings, vinyl decking, fencing, water retention barriers, and conservatory roof components. It sells its products to OEMs in the building products industry through sales representatives, direct sales force, distributors, and independent sales agents. Quanex Building Products Corporation was founded in 1927 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Aspen Aerogels

Aspen Aerogels, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aerogel insulation products primarily for use in the energy infrastructure and sustainable insulation materials markets in the United States, Asia, Canada, Europe, and Latin America. It operates in two segments, Energy Industrial and Thermal Barrier. The company offers PyroThin thermal barriers for use in lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles and energy storage industries; Pyrogel XTE that reduces the risk of corrosion under insulation in energy infrastructure operating systems; and Pyrogel HPS for applications within the power generation market. It also offers Pyrogel XTF to provide protection against fire; Cryogel Z for sub-ambient and cryogenic applications in the energy infrastructure market; Spaceloft Subsea for use in pipe-in-pipe applications in offshore oil production; and Cryogel X201, which is used in designing cold systems, such as refrigerated appliances, cold storage equipment, and aerospace systems. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Northborough, Massachusetts.