NWPX Infrastructure (NASDAQ:NWPX) versus Lennox International (NYSE:LII) Critical Analysis

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) and NWPX Infrastructure (NASDAQ:NWPX) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Lennox International and NWPX Infrastructure, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lennox International	2	9	5	0	2.19
NWPX Infrastructure	0	2	2	1	2.80

Lennox International currently has a consensus target price of $540.33, indicating a potential upside of 38.42%. NWPX Infrastructure has a consensus target price of $110.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.15%. Given Lennox International’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lennox International is more favorable than NWPX Infrastructure.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lennox International and NWPX Infrastructure”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lennox International	$5.20 billion	2.60	$805.80 million	$22.12	17.65
NWPX Infrastructure	$526.00 million	1.97	$35.41 million	$4.99	21.58

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

Profitability

This table compares Lennox International and NWPX Infrastructure’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lennox International	14.61%	66.42%	19.16%
NWPX Infrastructure	8.49%	12.22%	7.93%

Volatility and Risk

Lennox International has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NWPX Infrastructure has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.1% of Lennox International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.6% of NWPX Infrastructure shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.8% of Lennox International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of NWPX Infrastructure shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Lennox International beats NWPX Infrastructure on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lennox International

Lennox International Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets a range of products for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration markets in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The Home Comfort Solutions segment provides furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, packaged heating and cooling systems, indoor air quality equipment, comfort control products, and replacement parts and supplies; residential heating, ventilation, cooling equipment, and air conditioning; and evaporator coils and unit heaters under Lennox, Dave Lennox Signature Collection, Armstrong Air, Ducane, AirEase, Concord, MagicPak, Advanced Distributor Products, Allied, Elite Series, Merit Series, Comfort Sync, Healthy Climate, iComfort, ComfortSense, and Lennox Stores name. The Building Climate Solutions segment offers unitary heating and air conditioning equipment, applied systems, controls, installation and service of commercial heating and cooling equipment, variable refrigerant flow commercial, curb, curb adapters, drop box diffusers, HVAC recycling, and salvage service. This segment also provides condensing units, unit coolers, fluid coolers, air cooled condensers, air handlers, and refrigeration rack systems for preserving food and other perishables; and compressor racks and industrial process chillers under the Lennox, Model L, CORE, Enlight, Xion, Energence, Prodigy, Strategos, Raider, Lennox VRF, Lennox National Account Services, Allied Commercial, Elite, AES Industries, Mechanical, and Reclaim, Heatcraft Worldwide and Chandler Refrigeration, Bohn, MAGNA, Larkin, FriguaBohn, IntelliGen, and Interlink brand name. In addition, the company provides small package units, rooftop units, chillers, air handlers, and fan coils. It sells its products and services through direct sales, distributors, and company-owned parts and supplies stores. The company was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Richardson, Texas.

About NWPX Infrastructure

Northwest Pipe Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and supply of water-related infrastructure products in North America. It operates in two segments, Engineered Steel Pressure Pipe (SPP) and Precast Infrastructure and Engineered Systems (Precast). The SPP segment offers large-diameter and high-pressure steel pipeline systems for use in water infrastructure applications, which are primarily related to drinking water systems. Its products are also used for hydroelectric power systems, wastewater systems, seismic resiliency, and other applications. In addition, this segment makes products for industrial plant piping systems and certain structural applications. The Precast segment provides stormwater and wastewater technology products, precast, and reinforced concrete products, including reinforced concrete pipe, manholes, box culverts, vaults and catch basins, pump lift stations, oil water separators, biofiltration units, steel casing pipes, and bar-wrapped concrete cylinder pipes, as well as pipeline system joints, fittings, specialized components, and other environmental and engineered solutions. The company sells its water infrastructure products under ParkUSA, Geneva Pipe and Precast, Permalok, and Northwest Pipe Company brands primarily to installation contractors. Northwest Pipe Company was incorporated in 1966 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Washington.