Bowman Consulting Group (NASDAQ:BWMN) & IES (NASDAQ:IESC) Head-To-Head Comparison

IES (NASDAQ:IESC) and Bowman Consulting Group (NASDAQ:BWMN) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares IES and Bowman Consulting Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IES	10.40%	33.97%	18.70%
Bowman Consulting Group	2.02%	3.98%	1.84%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares IES and Bowman Consulting Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IES	$3.37 billion	4.40	$303.06 million	$18.75	39.71
Bowman Consulting Group	$503.56 million	0.93	$12.85 million	$0.60	44.75

IES has higher revenue and earnings than Bowman Consulting Group. IES is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bowman Consulting Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for IES and Bowman Consulting Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IES	0	1	1	0	2.50
Bowman Consulting Group	1	2	3	0	2.33

IES presently has a consensus price target of $458.00, indicating a potential downside of 38.49%. Bowman Consulting Group has a consensus price target of $47.50, indicating a potential upside of 76.91%. Given Bowman Consulting Group’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Bowman Consulting Group is more favorable than IES.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.6% of IES shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.2% of Bowman Consulting Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 56.4% of IES shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of Bowman Consulting Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

IES has a beta of 1.78, suggesting that its stock price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bowman Consulting Group has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

IES beats Bowman Consulting Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IES

IES Holdings, Inc. engages in the design and installation of integrated electrical and technology systems, and provides infrastructure products and services in the United States. The Communications segment designs, installs, and maintains network infrastructure within data centers for co-location and managed hosting customers; corporate, educational, financial, hospitality, and healthcare buildings; e-commerce distribution centers; and high-tech manufacturing facilities. This segment also provides design and installation services for audio/visual, telephone, fire, and wireless access and intrusion alarm systems; and engages in designing/building, servicing, and maintaining data network systems. The Residential segment offers electrical installations to single-family housing and multi-family apartments; and cable television installations to residential and light commercial applications, as well as installs residential solar power for new construction and existing residences. The Infrastructure Solutions segment maintains and repairs alternating and direct current electric motors and generators, and power generating and distribution equipment; manufactures custom-engineered metal enclosed bus duct solutions used in power distribution; manufactures custom commercial and industrial generator enclosures; manufactures, re-manufactures, and repairs industrial lifting magnets; and maintains and repairs railroad main and auxiliary generators, main alternators, and traction motors. The Commercial & Industrial segment offers electrical and mechanical design, construction, and maintenance services for office buildings, manufacturing facilities, data centers, chemical plants, refineries, wind farms, solar facilities, municipal infrastructures, and health care facilities. The company was formerly known as Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. and changed its name to IES Holdings, Inc. in May 2016. IES Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Bowman Consulting Group

Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. provides a range of real estate, energy, infrastructure, and environmental management solutions in the United States. It offers civil and site engineering services, such as conceptual land planning, environmental consulting and permitting, planning/zoning and entitlements, roadway and highway designs, erosion and sediment designs, stormwater management designs, construction administration, traffic studies, floodplain studies, and utility relocation designs; and commissioning and energy efficiency services comprise construction observation, direct systems functional performance testing, system development readiness checklist, post occupancy review, review of construction documents, deferred/seasonal functional testing, final commissioning report, and commissioning review of submittals. The company also provides construction management services, including constructability review, value engineering, budgeting and cost estimating, interagency and utility coordination, onsite observation and report evaluation, public communication and outreach, and resident engineer services, as well as bid solicitation, documentation, and preparation services; and environmental consulting services consisting of wetlands and waters of the U.S. delineations, natural resources inventories, wildlife and vegetation surveys, threatened and endangered species surveys, endangered species conservation and management, wetland creation and enhancement design, NEPA documentation, section 404/401 permitting and compliance, NPDES permitting, and phase I environmental site assessment. In addition, it offers landscape architecture, land procurement and right-of-way acquisition, structural engineering, surveying and geospatial engineering, and transportation and water resources engineering services, as well as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.