Comparing TopBuild (NYSE:BLD) and Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ:ROCK)

Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ:ROCK) and TopBuild (NYSE:BLD) are both construction companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.4% of Gibraltar Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.7% of TopBuild shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Gibraltar Industries shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of TopBuild shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Gibraltar Industries and TopBuild, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gibraltar Industries	1	1	0	1	2.33
TopBuild	0	6	9	2	2.76

TopBuild has a consensus price target of $439.73, indicating a potential downside of 10.95%. Given TopBuild’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe TopBuild is more favorable than Gibraltar Industries.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Gibraltar Industries and TopBuild”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gibraltar Industries	$1.31 billion	1.29	$137.34 million	$0.08	712.50
TopBuild	$5.33 billion	2.60	$622.60 million	$19.70	25.07

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

Profitability

This table compares Gibraltar Industries and TopBuild’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gibraltar Industries	0.35%	12.58%	8.82%
TopBuild	10.84%	27.10%	11.29%

Risk and Volatility

Gibraltar Industries has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TopBuild has a beta of 1.68, suggesting that its share price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TopBuild beats Gibraltar Industries on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gibraltar Industries

Gibraltar Industries, Inc. manufactures and provides products and services for the renewable energy, residential, agtech, and infrastructure markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Renewables, Residential, Agtech, and Infrastructure. The Renewables segment designs, engineers, manufactures, and installs solar racking and electrical balance of systems for commercial and distributed generation scale solar installations. The Residential segment offers roof and foundation ventilation products and accessories; mail and electronic package solutions, including single mailboxes, cluster style mail and parcel boxes for single and multi-family housing, and electronic package locker systems; roof edgings and flashings; soffits and trims; drywall corner beads; metal roofing and accessories; rain dispersion products comprising gutters and accessories; and exterior retractable awnings. This segment also provides electronic parcel lockers, pipe flashings, and remote-controlled deck awnings and valances for sun protection. The Agtech segment offers growing and processing solutions, including the designing, engineering, manufacturing, construction, maintenance, and support of greenhouses; and indoor growing operations for retail, fruits and vegetables, flowers, cannabis, commercial, institutional and conservatories, and car wash structure applications. The Infrastructure segment offers expansion joints, structural bearings, rubber pre-formed seals and other sealants, elastomeric concrete, and bridge cable protection systems. It serves solar developers, home improvement retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and contractors, as well as institutional and commercial growers of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and plants. Gibraltar Industries, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Buffalo, New York.

About TopBuild

TopBuild Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the installation and distribution of insulation and other building material products to the construction industry. The company operates in two segments, Installation and Specialty Distribution. It provides insulation products and accessories, glass and windows, rain gutters, garage doors, fireplaces, roofing materials, closet shelving, and other products. The company also offers insulation installation services for fiberglass batts and rolls, blown-in loose fill fiberglass, polyurethane spray foam, and blown-in loose fill cellulose applications. In addition, it distributes building and mechanical insulation, insulation accessories, and other building product materials for the residential, commercial, and industrial end markets. The company serves single-family homebuilders, single-family custom builders, multi-family builders, commercial general contractors, remodelers, and individual homeowners, as well as insulation contractors, gutter contractors, weatherization contractors, other contractors, dealers, metal building erectors, and modular home builders. It operates installation branches and distribution centers in the United States and Canada. The company was formerly known as Masco SpinCo Corp. and changed its name to TopBuild Corp. in March 2015. TopBuild Corp. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida.