Comparing Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) and Limbach (NASDAQ:LMB)

Limbach (NASDAQ:LMB) and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Limbach has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Limbach and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Limbach	1	2	2	0	2.20
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	1	4	1	0	2.00

Limbach currently has a consensus price target of $67.50, indicating a potential upside of 39.03%. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has a consensus price target of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.00%. Given Limbach’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Limbach is more favorable than Great Lakes Dredge & Dock.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

55.8% of Limbach shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock shares are held by institutional investors. 7.0% of Limbach shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock shares are held by 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 Limbach and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Limbach	4.42%	23.22%	11.48%
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	8.27%	16.46%	6.48%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Limbach and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Limbach	$646.80 million	0.90	$39.06 million	$2.50	19.42
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	$888.28 million	1.28	$73.47 million	$1.07	15.89

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has higher revenue and earnings than Limbach. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Limbach, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Limbach

Limbach Holdings, Inc. operates as a building systems solution company in the United States. It operates through two segments, General Contractor Relationships and Owner Direct Relationships. The company engages in the construction and renovation projects that involve primarily include mechanical, plumbing, and electrical services. It also provides critical system repair, MEP infrastructure projects, maintenance contracts, building automation upgrades, data driven insights, and program management services. In addition, it offers captive engineering capabilities, estimating and virtual design; and professional engineering, energy analysis, estimation, and detail design and three-dimensional building installation coordination services. The company serves research, acute care, and inpatient hospitals; public and private colleges, universities, research centers; sports arenas; entertainment facilities, and amusement rides and parks; data centers; automotive, energy and general manufacturing plants; and life sciences, including organizations and companies, whose work is centered around research and development focused on living things. Limbach Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Warrendale, Pennsylvania.

About Great Lakes Dredge & Dock

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. engages in the provision of dredging services. Its projects include channel and port maintenance, channel deepening and port expansion, coastal protection and restoration, as well as land reclamation. The company was founded by William A. Lydon and Frederick C. Drews in 1890 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.