Contrasting Arcosa (NYSE:ACA) & Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina (NYSE:LOMA)

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina (NYSE:LOMA) and Arcosa (NYSE:ACA) are both materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina and Arcosa, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina	0	1	1	0	2.50
Arcosa	0	4	3	0	2.43

Arcosa has a consensus price target of $141.25, suggesting a potential downside of 3.60%. Given Arcosa’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Arcosa is more favorable than Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina and Arcosa”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina	$855.63 billion	0.00	$18.87 million	$0.29	32.65
Arcosa	$2.92 billion	2.47	$208.40 million	$9.98	14.68

Arcosa has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina. Arcosa is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina has a beta of 0.74, suggesting that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Arcosa has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

19.3% of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.7% of Arcosa shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Arcosa shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina and Arcosa’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina	5.05%	3.79%	2.15%
Arcosa	17.90%	7.90%	4.22%

Dividends

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina pays an annual dividend of $0.39 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Arcosa pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina pays out 134.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Arcosa pays out 2.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Arcosa beats Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina

Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cement and its derivatives in Argentina. The company operates through Cement, Masonry Cement and Lime; Concrete; Railroad; Aggregates; and Others segments. It offers masonry cement, aggregates, ready-mix concrete, concrete, and lime to wholesale distributors, concrete producers, industrial customers, and others for use in the construction. The company also provides rail transportation services; and treats and recycles industrial waste for use as fuel and raw material. It markets its products under the Loma Negra, San Martín, Plasticor, Cacique Plus, Cacique Max, Loma Negra Plus, and Lomax brands. The company was founded in 1926 and is based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima is a subsidiary of Intercement Trading E Inversiones Argentina Sociedad Limitada.

About Arcosa

Arcosa, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides infrastructure-related products and solutions for the construction, engineered structures, and transportation markets in the United States. It operates through three segments: Construction Products, Engineered Structures, and Transportation Products. The Construction Products segment offers natural and recycled aggregates; specialty materials; and construction site support equipment, including trench shields and shoring products for residential and non-residential construction, and specialty/other products, as well as for infrastructure construction. The Engineered Structures segment offers utility structures, wind towers, traffic structures, and telecommunication structures for electricity transmission and distribution, wind power generation, highway road construction, and wireless communication markets. The Transportation Products segment offers inland barges, fiberglass barge covers, winches, marine hardware, and steel components for railcars and transportation equipment; cast components for industrial and mining sectors; and axles, circular forgings, and coupling devices for freight, tank, locomotive, and passenger rail transportation equipment, as well as other industrial uses. Arcosa, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.