Comparing DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ:DXPE) & Boise Cascade (NYSE:BCC)

DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ:DXPE) and Boise Cascade (NYSE:BCC) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares DXP Enterprises and Boise Cascade’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DXP Enterprises	4.35%	18.51%	5.70%
Boise Cascade	1.64%	5.41%	3.34%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for DXP Enterprises and Boise Cascade, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DXP Enterprises	0	2	2	0	2.50
Boise Cascade	1	3	3	0	2.29

DXP Enterprises presently has a consensus price target of $187.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.35%. Boise Cascade has a consensus price target of $93.60, indicating a potential upside of 22.03%. Given Boise Cascade’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Boise Cascade is more favorable than DXP Enterprises.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

74.8% of DXP Enterprises shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.2% of Boise Cascade shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.0% of DXP Enterprises shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Boise Cascade shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares DXP Enterprises and Boise Cascade”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DXP Enterprises	$2.02 billion	1.47	$88.68 million	$5.68	33.71
Boise Cascade	$6.40 billion	0.42	$132.84 million	$2.95	26.00

Boise Cascade has higher revenue and earnings than DXP Enterprises. Boise Cascade is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than DXP Enterprises, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

DXP Enterprises has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Boise Cascade has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

DXP Enterprises beats Boise Cascade on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DXP Enterprises

DXP Enterprises, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in distributing maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) products, equipment, and services in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: Service Centers (SC), Supply Chain Services (SCS), and Innovative Pumping Solutions (IPS). The SC segment offers MRO products, equipment, and integrated services, including technical expertise and logistics services. It offers a range of MRO products in the rotating equipment, bearing, power transmission, hose, fluid power, metal working, fastener, industrial supply, safety products, and safety services categories. This segment serves customers in the oil and gas, food and beverage, petrochemical, transportation, other general industrial, mining, construction, chemical, municipal, agriculture, and pulp and paper industries. The SCS segment manages procurement and inventory vinventory optimization and management, storeroom management, transaction consolidation and control, vendor oversight and procurement cost optimization, productivity improvement, and customized reporting services. Its programs include SmartAgreement, a procurement solution for various MRO categories; SmartBuy, an on-site or centralized MRO procurement solution; SmartSource, an on-site procurement and storeroom management solution; SmartStore, an e-Catalog solution; SmartVend, an industrial dispensing solution; and SmartServ, an integrated service pump solution. The IPS segment fabricates and assembles custom-made pump packages; remanufactures pumps; and manufactures branded private label pumps. DXP Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is based in Houston, Texas.

About Boise Cascade

Boise Cascade Company engages in manufacture of wood products and distribution of building materials in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments, Wood Products and Building Materials Distribution. The Wood Products segment manufactures laminated veneer lumber and laminated beams used in headers and beams; I-joists for residential and commercial flooring and roofing systems, and other structural applications; structural, appearance, and industrial plywood panels; and ponderosa pine shop lumber and appearance grade boards. The Building Materials Distribution segment distributes a line of building materials, including oriented strand boards, plywood, and lumber; general line items, such as siding, composite decking, doors, metal products, insulation, and roofing; and engineered wood products. It markets and sells its products to dealers, home improvement centers, wholesalers, specialty distributors, and industrial converters for use in the construction of new residential housing, repair-and-remodeling of existing housing, construction of light industrial and commercial buildings, and other industrial applications. Boise Cascade Company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.