Financial Review: Grafton Group (OTCMKTS:GROUF) and Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN)

Grafton Group (OTCMKTS:GROUF) and Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN) are both construction companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Grafton Group and Aspen Aerogels, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grafton Group	0	0	1	0	3.00
Aspen Aerogels	0	3	7	1	2.82

Aspen Aerogels has a consensus price target of $18.44, indicating a potential upside of 185.52%. Given Aspen Aerogels’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Aspen Aerogels is more favorable than Grafton Group.

Risk & Volatility

Grafton Group has a beta of 0.28, suggesting that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aspen Aerogels has a beta of 2.65, suggesting that its stock price is 165% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Grafton Group and Aspen Aerogels”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grafton Group	$2.92 billion	0.74	$155.92 million	N/A	N/A
Aspen Aerogels	$452.70 million	1.17	$13.38 million	($3.49)	-1.85

Grafton Group has higher revenue and earnings than Aspen Aerogels.

Profitability

This table compares Grafton Group and Aspen Aerogels’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grafton Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Aspen Aerogels	-65.47%	6.69%	4.39%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

8.2% of Grafton Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.6% of Aspen Aerogels shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of Aspen Aerogels shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Aspen Aerogels beats Grafton Group on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Grafton Group

Grafton Group plc engages in the distribution, retailing, and manufacturing businesses in Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland, and the United Kingdom. Its Distribution segment distributes building materials, paint, tools, ironmongery, fixings, and accessories, workwear and PPE, and spare parts; materials and plant for mechanical services, heating, plumbing, and air movement; and trade, DIY, and self-build markets with building materials, timber, doors and floors, plumbing and heating, bathrooms, and landscaping products under the Selco, Leyland SDM, Chadwicks, MacBlair, Isero, Polvo, Gunters en Meuser, TG Lynes, and IKH brands. The company’s Retailing segment retails home and garden products through stores, including DIY products, paints, lighting products, homestyle products, housewares, bathroom products, and kitchens, as well as gardening and Christmas products under the Woodie’s brand. Its Manufacturing segment manufactures dry mortars and wooden staircases; and drainage, ducting and roofline systems under the CPI Mortar, StairBox, and MFP brand names. Grafton Group plc was founded in 1902 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

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.