Financial Contrast: Ashtead Group (ASHTY) and Its Competitors

Ashtead Group (OTCMKTS:ASHTY) is one of 24 public companies in the “Industrial Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Ashtead Group to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Ashtead Group has a beta of 1.67, meaning that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ashtead Group’s peers have a beta of 1.17, meaning that their average share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.8% of Ashtead Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.2% of shares of all “Industrial Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of shares of all “Industrial Services” companies are held by company 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 Ashtead Group and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ashtead Group	14.80%	16.78%	5.70%
Ashtead Group Competitors	-13.90%	10.64%	3.35%

Dividends

Ashtead Group pays an annual dividend of $2.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Ashtead Group pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Industrial Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.3% and pay out 33.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Ashtead Group and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ashtead Group	0	2	1	2	3.00
Ashtead Group Competitors	346	864	977	33	2.31

As a group, “Industrial Services” companies have a potential upside of 10.47%. Given Ashtead Group’s peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ashtead Group has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ashtead Group and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ashtead Group	$10.86 billion	$1.60 billion	17.32
Ashtead Group Competitors	$9.76 billion	$641.29 million	16.40

Ashtead Group has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Ashtead Group is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Ashtead Group beats its peers on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

Ashtead Group Company Profile

Ashtead Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the construction, industrial, and general equipment rental business in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It provides pumps, power generation, heating, cooling, scaffolding, traffic management, temporary flooring, trench shoring, and lifting services. The company offers its products and services for facilities maintenance and municipalities, such as office complexes, apartment complexes, government, hospitals, data centers, parks and recreation departments, schools and universities, shopping centers, pavement/kerb repairs, and golf course maintenance; construction of airports, highways and bridges, office buildings, data centers, schools and universities, shopping centers, residential, remodeling, manufacturing plants, and green energy plants; emergency response for fire, hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, winter, storms, residential and health emergencies, alternative care facilities, points of distribution, and mobile testing facilities; and entertainment and special events, including national events, concerts, sporting events, film and telvision production, theme parks, festivals farmers' markets, local 5k runs, and cycle races. It operates 1,094 stores in the United States, 119 stores in Canada, and 185 stores in the United Kingdom under the Sunbelt Rentals brand. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.