Orion Group (NYSE:ORN) versus Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX) Head-To-Head Review

Orion Group (NYSE:ORN) and Comfort Systems USA (NYSE:FIX) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Orion Group and Comfort Systems USA, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Orion Group	2	0	5	0	2.43
Comfort Systems USA	0	2	8	0	2.80

Orion Group currently has a consensus price target of $14.75, indicating a potential upside of 76.75%. Comfort Systems USA has a consensus price target of $1,916.14, indicating a potential upside of 42.27%. Given Orion Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Orion Group is more favorable than Comfort Systems USA.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.3% of Orion Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.5% of Comfort Systems USA shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.7% of Orion Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Comfort Systems USA 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.

Profitability

This table compares Orion Group and Comfort Systems USA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Orion Group	0.40%	3.07%	1.10%
Comfort Systems USA	13.01%	55.24%	20.61%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Orion Group and Comfort Systems USA”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Orion Group	$896.50 million	0.38	$2.49 million	$0.09	92.72
Comfort Systems USA	$12.54 billion	3.76	$1.02 billion	$46.32	29.08

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

Risk and Volatility

Orion Group has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Comfort Systems USA has a beta of 1.66, meaning that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Comfort Systems USA beats Orion Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Orion Group

Orion Group Holdings, Inc., a leading specialty construction company serving the infrastructure, industrial and building sectors, provides services both on and off the water in the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada and the Caribbean Basin through its marine segment and its concrete segment. The Company’s marine segment provides construction and dredging services related to marine transportation facility construction, marine pipeline construction, marine environmental structures, dredging of waterways, channels and ports, environmental dredging, design, and specialty services. Its concrete segment provides turnkey concrete construction services including place and finish, site prep, layout, forming, and rebar placement for large commercial, structural and other associated business areas. The Company is headquartered in Houston, Texas with regional offices throughout its operating areas.

About Comfort Systems USA

Comfort Systems USA, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides mechanical and electrical installation, renovation, maintenance, repair, and replacement services for the mechanical and electrical services industry in the United States. It operates through two segments, Mechanical and Electrical. The company offers heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, as well as plumbing, electrical, piping and controls, off-site construction, monitoring, and fire protection. It also engages in the design, engineering, integration, installation, and start-up of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) and related systems in new buildings; and renovation, expansion, maintenance, monitoring, repair, and replacement of MEP systems in existing buildings. In addition, the company provides remote monitoring of power usage, temperature, pressure, humidity and air flow for MEP and other building systems. It serves building owners and developers, general contractors, architects, consulting engineers, and property managers in the commercial, industrial, and institutional MEP markets. Comfort Systems USA, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.