Northwest Pipe (NWPX) Competitors

Northwest Pipe (NASDAQ:NWPX) and Argan (NYSE:AGX) are both industrial products companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, community ranking, profitability, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Does the media refer more to NWPX or AGX?

In the previous week, Argan had 7 more articles in the media than Northwest Pipe. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for Argan and 2 mentions for Northwest Pipe. Northwest Pipe's average media sentiment score of 1.30 beat Argan's score of 1.15 indicating that Northwest Pipe is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Northwest Pipe	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Argan	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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

80.6% of Northwest Pipe shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.4% of Argan shares are held by institutional investors. 3.3% of Northwest Pipe shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of Argan shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is NWPX or AGX more profitable?

Argan has a net margin of 8.20% compared to Northwest Pipe's net margin of 6.12%. Argan's return on equity of 21.66% beat Northwest Pipe's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Northwest Pipe	6.12%	8.47%	4.79%
Argan	8.20%	21.66%	9.73%

Do analysts prefer NWPX or AGX?

Northwest Pipe currently has a consensus price target of $45.00, indicating a potential downside of 13.38%. Argan has a consensus price target of $150.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.61%. Given Argan's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Argan is more favorable than Northwest Pipe.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Northwest Pipe	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Argan	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in NWPX or AGX?

Argan received 35 more outperform votes than Northwest Pipe when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.00% of users gave Argan an outperform vote while only 57.46% of users gave Northwest Pipe an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Northwest Pipe	Outperform Votes 281 57.46%	Underperform Votes 208 42.54%
Argan	Outperform Votes 316 69.00%	Underperform Votes 142 31.00%

Which has more risk & volatility, NWPX or AGX?

Northwest Pipe has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Argan has a beta of 0.53, meaning that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, NWPX or AGX?

Argan has higher revenue and earnings than Northwest Pipe. Northwest Pipe 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
Northwest Pipe	$444.36M	1.16	$21.07M	$2.94	17.67
Argan	$806.26M	2.49	$32.36M	$4.78	30.88

Summary

Argan beats Northwest Pipe on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.