Granite Construction (GVA) Competitors

AECOM (NYSE:ACM) and Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) are both construction companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Is ACM or GVA more profitable?

Granite Construction has a net margin of 3.89% compared to AECOM's net margin of 3.82%. AECOM's return on equity of 27.87% beat Granite Construction's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AECOM	3.82%	27.87%	5.78%
Granite Construction	3.89%	21.64%	7.65%

Does the media prefer ACM or GVA?

In the previous week, AECOM had 11 more articles in the media than Granite Construction. MarketBeat recorded 35 mentions for AECOM and 24 mentions for Granite Construction. AECOM's average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Granite Construction's score of 0.81 indicating that AECOM is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AECOM	14 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Granite Construction	9 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, ACM or GVA?

AECOM has higher revenue and earnings than Granite Construction. AECOM is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Granite Construction, 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
AECOM	$16.11B	0.97	$402.27M	$4.59	25.80
Granite Construction	$4.01B	1.16	$126.35M	$2.40	44.18

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ACM or GVA?

85.4% of AECOM shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of AECOM shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Granite Construction shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, ACM or GVA?

AECOM has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Granite Construction has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate ACM or GVA?

AECOM currently has a consensus price target of $127.33, suggesting a potential upside of 7.51%. Granite Construction has a consensus price target of $76.00, suggesting a potential downside of 28.33%. Given AECOM's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe AECOM is more favorable than Granite Construction.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AECOM	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Granite Construction	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.00

Is ACM or GVA a better dividend stock?

AECOM pays an annual dividend of $1.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Granite Construction pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. AECOM pays out 22.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Granite Construction pays out 21.7% 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. AECOM has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. AECOM is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

AECOM beats Granite Construction on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.