Critical Comparison: Concrete Pumping (NASDAQ:BBCP) versus INNOVATE (NYSE:VATE)

INNOVATE (NYSE:VATE) and Concrete Pumping (NASDAQ:BBCP) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for INNOVATE and Concrete Pumping, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
INNOVATE	1	0	0	0	1.00
Concrete Pumping	0	3	0	1	2.50

Concrete Pumping has a consensus price target of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 22.95%. Given Concrete Pumping’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Concrete Pumping is more favorable than INNOVATE.

Profitability

This table compares INNOVATE and Concrete Pumping’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
INNOVATE	-1.48%	N/A	-2.35%
Concrete Pumping	2.45%	3.91%	1.16%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares INNOVATE and Concrete Pumping”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
INNOVATE	$1.52 billion	0.07	-$60.60 million	($1.87)	-4.29
Concrete Pumping	$422.91 million	1.16	$6.37 million	$0.16	61.00

Concrete Pumping has lower revenue, but higher earnings than INNOVATE. INNOVATE is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Concrete Pumping, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

INNOVATE has a beta of 2.33, meaning that its stock price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Concrete Pumping has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

34.3% of INNOVATE shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.2% of Concrete Pumping shares are owned by institutional investors. 57.7% of INNOVATE shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 28.2% of Concrete Pumping shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Concrete Pumping beats INNOVATE on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About INNOVATE

INNOVATE Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates in infrastructure, life sciences, and spectrum areas in the United States. The Infrastructure segment provides industrial construction, structural steel, and facility maintenance services, such as fabrication and erection of structural steel and heavy steel plate services, and large-diameter water pipes and water storage tanks; fabrication of trusses and girders; and 3-D building information modeling and detailing for commercial, industrial, and infrastructure construction projects, such as buildings and office complexes, hotels and casinos, convention centers, sports arenas and stadiums, shopping malls, hospitals, dams, bridges, mines, metal processing, refineries, pulp and paper mills, and power plants. This segment also offers solutions for digital engineering, modeling and detailing, construction, and heavy equipment installation and facility services including maintenance, repair, and installation; and manufactures pollution control scrubbers, tunnel liners, pressure vessels, strainers, filters, separators, and customized products. The Life Sciences segment develops products to treat early osteoarthritis of the knee; and aesthetic and medical technologies for the skin. The Spectrum segment operates over-the-air broadcasting stations across the United States; and Azteca America, a Spanish-language broadcast network. The company was formerly known as HC2 Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to INNOVATE Corp. in September 2021. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Concrete Pumping

Concrete Pumping Holdings, Inc. provides concrete pumping and waste management services in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company offers concrete pumping services to general contractors and concrete finishing companies in the commercial, infrastructure, and residential sectors under the Brundage-Bone and Capital Pumping brands; and industrial cleanup and containment services primarily to customers in the construction industry under the Eco-Pan brand. It leases and rents concrete pumping equipment, pans, and containers. As of October 31, 2023, the company owned a fleet of approximately 930 boom pumps, 90 placing booms, 20 telebelts, 300 stationary pumps, and 115 waste management trucks. Concrete Pumping Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Thornton, Colorado.