Reviewing Core & Main (CNM) & Its Peers

Core & Main (NYSE:CNM) is one of 158 public companies in the “Trading Companies & Distributors” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Core & Main to related businesses based on the strength of its profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Core & Main and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Core & Main	0	5	7	0	2.58
Core & Main Competitors	1413	4861	6652	219	2.43

Core & Main presently has a consensus target price of $56.70, suggesting a potential upside of 26.25%. As a group, “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies have a potential upside of 8.39%. Given Core & Main’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Core & Main is more favorable than its peers.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Core & Main and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Core & Main	$7.65 billion	$441.00 million	19.03
Core & Main Competitors	$6.49 billion	$365.60 million	23.91

Core & Main has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Core & Main is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Core & Main and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Core & Main	5.87%	26.17%	8.58%
Core & Main Competitors	0.71%	-34.48%	3.15%

Risk & Volatility

Core & Main has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Core & Main’s peers have a beta of 1.28, suggesting that their average share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

94.2% of Core & Main shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.9% of shares of all “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Core & Main shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.1% of shares of all “Trading Companies & Distributors” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Core & Main beats its peers on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

About Core & Main

Core & Main, Inc. is a specialty distributor focused on water, wastewater, storm drainage and fire protection products, and related services. The company provides infrastructure solutions to municipalities, private water companies and professional contractors across municipal, non-residential, and residential end markets, nationwide. The company was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.