Fluor (NYSE:FLR) versus Southland (NASDAQ:SLND) Critical Analysis

Fluor (NYSE:FLR) and Southland (NASDAQ:SLND) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.1% of Fluor shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.8% of Southland shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Fluor shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 73.4% of Southland shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Fluor and Southland, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fluor	1	3	4	0	2.38
Southland	0	1	0	0	2.00

Fluor presently has a consensus target price of $63.33, indicating a potential upside of 36.80%. Given Fluor’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Fluor is more favorable than Southland.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Fluor and Southland”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fluor	$15.54 billion	0.40	-$51.00 million	($6.82)	-6.79
Southland	$603.01 million	0.06	-$19.25 million	($7.46)	-0.09

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

Profitability

This table compares Fluor and Southland’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fluor	-7.19%	10.52%	3.98%
Southland	-10.38%	-47.71%	-8.75%

Risk and Volatility

Fluor has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southland has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Fluor beats Southland on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fluor

Fluor Corporation provides engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC); fabrication and modularization; operation and maintenance; asset integrity; and project management services worldwide. The company operates through Energy Solutions, Urban Solutions, Mission Solutions, and Other segments. The Energy Solutions segment provides solutions to the energy transition markets, including asset decarbonization, carbon capture, renewable fuels, waste-to-energy, green chemicals, hydrogen, nuclear power, and other low-carbon energy sources. It also provides consulting services, including feasibility studies, process assessments, and project finance structuring; and a range of services for small modular reactor technologies, conventional and advanced nuclear reactor technologies. This segment serves the production and fuels, chemicals, LNG, power markets, chemicals and petrochemical industries. The Urban Solutions segment offers EPC and project management services to the infrastructure, advanced technologies, life sciences, and mining and metals industries. This segment also provides staffing services to the company and third-party clients with technical, professional, and craft resources on a contract or permanent placement basis. The Mission Solutions segment offers technical solutions to the U.S. and other governments. It also delivers solutions for nuclear security and operation, nuclear waste management, and laboratory management; and operation and maintenance, logistics, EPC, and life support solutions for mission-critical facilities across U.S. military service organizations. This segment offers site management, environmental remediation, and decommissioning for nuclear remediation at governmental facilities, as well as services to commercial nuclear clients. Fluor Corporation was founded in 1912 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.

About Southland

Southland Holdings, Inc. engages in specialty infrastructure construction business in North America and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Civil and Transportation. The Civil segment designs and constructs water pipelines, pump stations, lift stations, water and wastewater treatment plants, concrete and structural steel, outfall, and tunneling. The Transportation segment designs and constructs bridges, roadways, marine, dredging, ship terminals and piers, and specialty structures and facilities, as well as convention centers, sports stadiums, marine facilities, and ferris wheels. Southland Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1900 and is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas.