Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD) Competitors

Argan (NYSE:AGX) and Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) are both small-cap construction companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AGX or GLDD?

Argan received 25 more outperform votes than Great Lakes Dredge & Dock when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.06% of users gave Argan an outperform vote while only 59.35% of users gave Great Lakes Dredge & Dock an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Argan	Outperform Votes 317 69.06%	Underperform Votes 142 30.94%
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	Outperform Votes 292 59.35%	Underperform Votes 200 40.65%

Does the media favor AGX or GLDD?

In the previous week, Argan had 7 more articles in the media than Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Argan and 8 mentions for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock's average media sentiment score of 1.51 beat Argan's score of 1.04 indicating that Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Argan	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has better valuation & earnings, AGX or GLDD?

Argan has higher revenue and earnings than Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Argan, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Argan	$874.18M	2.28	$32.36M	$6.11	23.93
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	$762.69M	0.78	$13.91M	$0.84	10.49

Do analysts recommend AGX or GLDD?

Argan presently has a consensus price target of $150.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.61%. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 58.91%. Given Great Lakes Dredge & Dock's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is more favorable than Argan.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Argan	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more volatility & risk, AGX or GLDD?

Argan has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AGX or GLDD a better dividend stock?

Argan pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock pays an annual dividend of $0.0840 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Argan pays out 24.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock pays out 10.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Is AGX or GLDD more profitable?

Argan has a net margin of 8.20% compared to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock's net margin of 7.51%. Argan's return on equity of 21.66% beat Great Lakes Dredge & Dock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Argan	8.20%	21.66%	9.73%
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	7.51%	13.72%	5.10%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AGX or GLDD?

79.4% of Argan shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock shares are held by institutional investors. 11.9% of Argan shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Argan beats Great Lakes Dredge & Dock on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.