Head to Head Survey: James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) & TopBuild (NYSE:BLD)

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) and TopBuild (NYSE:BLD) are both construction companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for James Hardie Industries and TopBuild, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
James Hardie Industries	0	4	12	0	2.75
TopBuild	1	6	9	1	2.59

James Hardie Industries presently has a consensus price target of $26.71, suggesting a potential upside of 36.12%. TopBuild has a consensus price target of $439.26, suggesting a potential upside of 19.65%. Given James Hardie Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe James Hardie Industries is more favorable than TopBuild.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

8.0% of James Hardie Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.7% of TopBuild shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of TopBuild shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

James Hardie Industries has a beta of 1.78, suggesting that its stock price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TopBuild has a beta of 1.72, suggesting that its stock price is 72% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares James Hardie Industries and TopBuild”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
James Hardie Industries	$4.40 billion	1.92	$424.00 million	$0.27	72.66
TopBuild	$5.41 billion	1.91	$521.73 million	$18.30	20.06

TopBuild has higher revenue and earnings than James Hardie Industries. TopBuild is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than James Hardie Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares James Hardie Industries and TopBuild’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
James Hardie Industries	2.70%	13.52%	5.81%
TopBuild	9.65%	25.66%	9.93%

Summary

TopBuild beats James Hardie Industries on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About James Hardie Industries

James Hardie Industries plc manufactures and sells fiber cement, fiber gypsum, and cement bonded building products for interior and exterior building construction applications primarily in the United States, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The company operates through North America Fiber Cement, Asia Pacific Fiber Cement, and Europe Building Products segments. It offers fiber cement interior linings, exterior siding products, and related accessories; and various fiber cement products for a range of applications, including external cladding, internal walls, ceilings, floors, soffits, fences, and facades. The company also provides fiber gypsum and cement-bonded boards for use in the timber frame construction, dry lining, DIY, and structural fire protection applications. Its products are used in residential repair and remodel, and commercial and residential new construction markets James Hardie Industries plc was founded in 1888 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

About TopBuild

TopBuild Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the installation and distribution of insulation and other building material products to the construction industry. The company operates in two segments, Installation and Specialty Distribution. It provides insulation products and accessories, glass and windows, rain gutters, garage doors, fireplaces, roofing materials, closet shelving, and other products. The company also offers insulation installation services for fiberglass batts and rolls, blown-in loose fill fiberglass, polyurethane spray foam, and blown-in loose fill cellulose applications. In addition, it distributes building and mechanical insulation, insulation accessories, and other building product materials for the residential, commercial, and industrial end markets. The company serves single-family homebuilders, single-family custom builders, multi-family builders, commercial general contractors, remodelers, and individual homeowners, as well as insulation contractors, gutter contractors, weatherization contractors, other contractors, dealers, metal building erectors, and modular home builders. It operates installation branches and distribution centers in the United States and Canada. The company was formerly known as Masco SpinCo Corp. and changed its name to TopBuild Corp. in March 2015. TopBuild Corp. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida.