Head-To-Head Contrast: Janus International Group (NYSE:JBI) & Argan (NYSE:AGX)

Argan (NYSE:AGX) and Janus International Group (NYSE:JBI) are both construction companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

79.4% of Argan shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.8% of Janus International Group shares are held by institutional investors. 6.7% of Argan shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Janus International Group shares are held 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Argan and Janus International Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Argan	$874.18 million	5.60	$85.46 million	$8.49	41.60
Janus International Group	$963.80 million	1.05	$70.40 million	$0.34	21.41

Argan has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Janus International Group. Janus International Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Argan, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Argan has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Janus International Group has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Argan and Janus International Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Argan	0	5	3	0	2.38
Janus International Group	1	3	1	0	2.00

Argan presently has a consensus target price of $355.20, indicating a potential upside of 0.57%. Janus International Group has a consensus target price of $10.17, indicating a potential upside of 39.65%. Given Janus International Group’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Janus International Group is more favorable than Argan.

Profitability

This table compares Argan and Janus International Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Argan	13.11%	31.38%	13.47%
Janus International Group	5.29%	14.18%	5.89%

Summary

Argan beats Janus International Group on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Argan

Argan, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, maintenance, project development, and technical consulting services to the power generation market. The company operates through Power Services, Industrial Services, and Telecom Services segments. The Power Services segment offers engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as designing, building, and commissioning of large-scale energy projects to the owners of alternative energy facilities, such as biomass plants, wind farms, and solar fields; and design, construction, project management, start-up, and operation services for projects with approximately 18 gigawatts of power-generating capacity. This segment serves independent power project owners, public utilities, power plant equipment suppliers, and other commercial firms. The Industrial Services segment provides industrial construction and field services and vessel fabrication services for fertilizer, engineering and construction, forest products, and various other industrial companies in southeast region of the United States. The Telecom Services segment offers trenchless directional boring and excavation for underground communication and power networks, as well as aerial cabling services; and installs buried cable, high and low voltage electric lines, and private area outdoor lighting systems. It also provides structured cabling, terminations, and connectivity that offers the physical transport for high-speed data, voice, video, and security networks. This segment serves electricity cooperative, state and local government agencies, counties and municipalities, and technology-oriented government contracting firms, as well as federal government facilities in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Argan, Inc. was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.

About Janus International Group

Janus International Group, Inc. manufacturers and supplies turn-key self-storage, and commercial and industrial building solutions in North America and internationally. The company offers roll up and swing doors, hallway systems, relocatable storage moveable additional storage structures units, and other solutions. It also provides facility and door automation and access control technologies; and Noke smart entry system. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Temple, Georgia.