Comparing Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) and TSS (NASDAQ:TSSI)

TSS (NASDAQ:TSSI) and Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) are both construction companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares TSS and Sterling Infrastructure”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TSS	$148.00 million	1.39	$5.98 million	$0.20	35.55
Sterling Infrastructure	$2.12 billion	4.60	$257.46 million	$10.20	31.03

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

81.0% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are held by institutional investors. 18.9% of TSS shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares TSS and Sterling Infrastructure’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TSS	2.08%	21.81%	3.79%
Sterling Infrastructure	14.14%	29.81%	12.40%

Volatility & Risk

TSS has a beta of 2.03, indicating that its stock price is 103% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sterling Infrastructure has a beta of 1.49, indicating that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for TSS and Sterling Infrastructure, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TSS	0	1	1	0	2.50
Sterling Infrastructure	0	0	3	1	3.25

TSS currently has a consensus price target of $17.75, suggesting a potential upside of 149.65%. Sterling Infrastructure has a consensus price target of $460.00, suggesting a potential upside of 45.32%. Given TSS’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe TSS is more favorable than Sterling Infrastructure.

Summary

Sterling Infrastructure beats TSS on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TSS

TSS, Inc. offers planning, design, engineering, construction management, commissioning and maintenance services. It provides these services primarily for specialized facilities such as data centers, communications rooms, call centers, laboratories, trading floors, network operations centers, medical facilities and similar environments. TSS Inc., formerly known as Fortress International Group, Inc., is based in Columbia, United States.

About Sterling Infrastructure

Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. engages in the provision of e-infrastructure, transportation, and building solutions primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: E-Infrastructure Solutions, Transportation Solutions, and Building Solutions. The E-Infrastructure Solutions segment provides site development services for the blue-chip end users in the e-commerce distribution center, data center, manufacturing, warehousing, and power generation sectors. The Transportation Solutions segment is involved in the development of infrastructure and rehabilitation projects for highways, roads, bridges, airports, ports, rail, and storm drainage systems for the departments of transportation in various states, regional transit authorities, airport authorities, port authorities, water authorities, and railroads. The Building Solutions segment provides residential and commercial concrete foundations for single-family and multi-family homes, parking structures, elevated slabs, other concrete work for developers and general contractors, as well as provides plumbing services for residential builds. The company was formerly known as Sterling Construction Company, Inc. and changed its name to Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. in June 2022. Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.