Financial Contrast: North American Construction Group (NYSE:NOA) and Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) and North American Construction Group (NYSE:NOA) are both materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Century Aluminum has a beta of 2.17, suggesting that its stock price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, North American Construction Group has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Century Aluminum and North American Construction Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Century Aluminum	$2.67 billion	1.24	$41.80 million	$8.53	3.92
North American Construction Group	$1.34 billion	0.19	$24.22 million	($0.27)	-34.36

Century Aluminum has higher revenue and earnings than North American Construction Group. North American Construction Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Century Aluminum, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Century Aluminum and North American Construction Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Century Aluminum	0	3	4	0	2.57
North American Construction Group	0	4	3	0	2.43

Century Aluminum presently has a consensus target price of $61.00, suggesting a potential upside of 82.25%. North American Construction Group has a consensus target price of $25.75, suggesting a potential upside of 177.57%. Given North American Construction Group’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe North American Construction Group is more favorable than Century Aluminum.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

61.6% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.0% of North American Construction Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Century Aluminum shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of North American Construction Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Century Aluminum and North American Construction Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Century Aluminum	29.74%	47.45%	24.20%
North American Construction Group	-0.61%	3.26%	0.74%

Summary

Century Aluminum beats North American Construction Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production of standard-grade and value-added primary aluminum products in the United States and Iceland. It also owns and operates an alumina production facility in Iceland, and a carbon anode production facility in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About North American Construction Group

North American Construction Group Ltd. provides mining and heavy civil construction services to customers in the resource development and industrial construction sectors in Australia, Canada, and the United States. The company operates Heavy Equipment – Canada, Heavy Equipment – Australia, and Other segments. It also offers mine management services for thermal coal mines; and construction and operations support services in the Canadian oil sands region. In addition, the company provides fully maintained heavy equipment rentals and full service mine operations support at metallurgical and thermal coal mines; heavy equipment rentals to iron ore, gold and lithium producers; and heavy equipment maintenance, component remanufacturing, and full equipment rebuild services to mining companies and other heavy equipment operators, as well as supplies production-critical components to the mining and construction industry. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a heavy equipment fleet of 900 units. The company was formerly known as North American Energy Partners Inc. and changed its name to North American Construction Group Ltd. in April 2018. North American Construction Group Ltd. was incorporated in 1953 and is headquartered in Acheson, Canada.