Financial Review: Core & Main (CNM) versus Its Competitors

Core & Main (NYSE:CNM) is one of 158 public companies in the “Trading Companies & Distributors” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Core & Main to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Core & Main and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Core & Main	0	6	7	0	2.54
Core & Main Competitors	1428	4871	6669	222	2.43

Core & Main currently has a consensus target price of $56.70, indicating a potential upside of 27.79%. As a group, “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies have a potential upside of 14.98%. Given Core & Main’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Core & Main is more favorable than its competitors.

Volatility & Risk

Core & Main has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Core & Main’s competitors have a beta of 1.30, suggesting that their average stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Core & Main and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Core & Main	$7.65 billion	$441.00 million	18.80
Core & Main Competitors	$6.64 billion	$365.60 million	20.70

Core & Main has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Core & Main is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Core & Main and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Core & Main	5.87%	26.17%	8.58%
Core & Main Competitors	0.71%	-34.50%	3.14%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.2% of Core & Main shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.9% of shares of all “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Core & Main shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.9% of shares of all “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Core & Main beats its competitors on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

About Core & Main

Core & Main, Inc. is a specialty distributor focused on water, wastewater, storm drainage and fire protection products, and related services. The company provides infrastructure solutions to municipalities, private water companies and professional contractors across municipal, non-residential, and residential end markets, nationwide. The company was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.