Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC) Competitors

Quanta Services (NYSE:PWR) and Jacobs Engineering Group (NYSE:JEC) are both large-cap construction companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and media sentiment.

Is PWR or JEC more profitable?

Jacobs Engineering Group has a net margin of 6.66% compared to Quanta Services' net margin of 3.73%. Quanta Services' return on equity of 18.41% beat Jacobs Engineering Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Quanta Services	3.73%	18.41%	7.15%
Jacobs Engineering Group	6.66%	11.42%	5.42%

Do analysts recommend PWR or JEC?

Quanta Services presently has a consensus target price of $392.45, indicating a potential upside of 3.76%. Given Quanta Services' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Quanta Services is more favorable than Jacobs Engineering Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Quanta Services	0 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.52
Jacobs Engineering Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is PWR or JEC a better dividend stock?

Quanta Services pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Jacobs Engineering Group pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Quanta Services pays out 6.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Jacobs Engineering Group pays out 13.5% 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. Quanta Services has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, PWR or JEC?

Quanta Services has higher revenue and earnings than Jacobs Engineering Group. Jacobs Engineering Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Quanta Services, 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
Quanta Services	$23.67B	2.38	$904.82M	$6.46	58.55
Jacobs Engineering Group	$12.74B	1.53	$847.98M	$5.05	28.96

Does the media prefer PWR or JEC?

In the previous week, Quanta Services had 35 more articles in the media than Jacobs Engineering Group. MarketBeat recorded 35 mentions for Quanta Services and 0 mentions for Jacobs Engineering Group. Quanta Services' average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat Jacobs Engineering Group's score of 0.00 indicating that Quanta Services is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Quanta Services	Positive
Jacobs Engineering Group	Neutral

Do insiders & institutionals believe in PWR or JEC?

90.5% of Quanta Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.6% of Jacobs Engineering Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Quanta Services shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Jacobs Engineering Group shares are held 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.

Which has more risk and volatility, PWR or JEC?

Quanta Services has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Jacobs Engineering Group has a beta of 1.35, suggesting that its share price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Quanta Services beats Jacobs Engineering Group on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.