Carpenter Technology (CRS) Competitors

Carpenter Technology (NYSE:CRS) and L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, media sentiment, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Is CRS or FSTR more profitable?

Carpenter Technology has a net margin of 12.26% compared to L.B. Foster's net margin of 7.22%. Carpenter Technology's return on equity of 21.16% beat L.B. Foster's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Carpenter Technology	12.26%	21.16%	10.85%
L.B. Foster	7.22%	3.76%	1.89%

Do analysts recommend CRS or FSTR?

Carpenter Technology presently has a consensus price target of $278.33, suggesting a potential downside of 0.30%. L.B. Foster has a consensus price target of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.38%. Given L.B. Foster's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe L.B. Foster is more favorable than Carpenter Technology.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Carpenter Technology	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
L.B. Foster	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media refer more to CRS or FSTR?

In the previous week, Carpenter Technology had 13 more articles in the media than L.B. Foster. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Carpenter Technology and 2 mentions for L.B. Foster. Carpenter Technology's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat L.B. Foster's score of 0.93 indicating that Carpenter Technology is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Carpenter Technology	9 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
L.B. Foster	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in CRS or FSTR?

92.0% of Carpenter Technology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.6% of L.B. Foster shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Carpenter Technology shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.7% of L.B. Foster shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, CRS or FSTR?

Carpenter Technology has higher revenue and earnings than L.B. Foster. L.B. Foster is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Carpenter Technology, 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
Carpenter Technology	$2.92B	4.76	$186.50M	$7.06	39.54
L.B. Foster	$530.77M	0.47	$42.95M	$3.31	7.10

Which has more risk and volatility, CRS or FSTR?

Carpenter Technology has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, L.B. Foster has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Carpenter Technology beats L.B. Foster on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.