Comparing North American Construction Group (NYSE:NOA) & Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

North American Construction Group (NYSE:NOA) and Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

North American Construction Group has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Century Aluminum has a beta of 2.17, indicating that its stock price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for North American Construction Group and Century Aluminum, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
North American Construction Group	0	4	3	0	2.43
Century Aluminum	0	3	4	0	2.57

North American Construction Group currently has a consensus price target of $25.75, suggesting a potential upside of 171.97%. Century Aluminum has a consensus price target of $60.80, suggesting a potential upside of 65.62%. Given North American Construction Group’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe North American Construction Group is more favorable than Century Aluminum.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.0% of North American Construction Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.6% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.7% of North American Construction Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares North American Construction Group and Century Aluminum”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
North American Construction Group	$1.44 billion	0.18	$24.22 million	($0.27)	-35.07
Century Aluminum	$3.00 billion	1.21	$41.80 million	$8.53	4.30

Century Aluminum has higher revenue and earnings than North American Construction Group. North American Construction Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Century Aluminum, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares North American Construction Group and Century Aluminum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
North American Construction Group	-0.61%	3.26%	0.74%
Century Aluminum	29.74%	47.45%	24.20%

Summary

Century Aluminum beats North American Construction Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About North American Construction Group

North American Construction Group Ltd. provides heavy construction and mining services, with operations in Canada and Australia. The company works with mining and resource-sector customers, including operators in Alberta’s oil sands, and also serves infrastructure and other industrial markets. Its services include mine development, site preparation, earthmoving, overburden removal, civil construction, equipment rental, and maintenance. The company also provides services related to mine reclamation and operates a fleet of heavy equipment for large-scale projects.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company is a global producer of primary aluminum, an essential material used in transportation, construction, packaging, and other industries. Its products include standard-grade and high-purity aluminum, supplied in forms such as ingots and billets for further processing by customers. The company operates aluminum smelting facilities in the United States and Iceland. Its activities also include producing carbon anodes, which are used in the aluminum-smelting process. Century Aluminum was established in 1995 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.