Head to Head Review: MYR Group (NASDAQ:MYRG) and Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL)

MYR Group (NASDAQ:MYRG) and Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

MYR Group has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sterling Infrastructure has a beta of 1.85, meaning that its share price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares MYR Group and Sterling Infrastructure’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MYR Group	4.13%	24.17%	9.96%
Sterling Infrastructure	12.55%	40.12%	17.15%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.9% of MYR Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.9% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of MYR Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares MYR Group and Sterling Infrastructure”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MYR Group	$3.66 billion	1.22	$118.42 million	$10.54	27.28
Sterling Infrastructure	$2.49 billion	6.17	$290.15 million	$13.87	36.19

Sterling Infrastructure has lower revenue, but higher earnings than MYR Group. MYR Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sterling Infrastructure, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for MYR Group and Sterling Infrastructure, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MYR Group	0	4	2	2	2.75
Sterling Infrastructure	0	1	7	0	2.88

MYR Group currently has a consensus target price of $451.20, suggesting a potential upside of 56.94%. Sterling Infrastructure has a consensus target price of $690.33, suggesting a potential upside of 37.55%. Given MYR Group’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe MYR Group is more favorable than Sterling Infrastructure.

Summary

Sterling Infrastructure beats MYR Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MYR Group

MYR Group Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides electrical construction services in the United States and Canada. It operates in two segments, Transmission and Distribution, and Commercial and Industrial. The Transmission and Distribution segment offers a range of services on electric transmission and distribution networks, and substation facilities, including design, engineering, procurement, construction, upgrade, maintenance, and repair services with primary focus on construction, maintenance, and repair to customers in the electric utility industry; and services, including construction and maintenance of high voltage transmission lines, substations, and lower voltage underground and overhead distribution systems, clean energy projects, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure services, as well as emergency restoration services in response to hurricane, wildfire, ice, or other related damages. This segment serves as a prime contractor to customers, such as investor-owned utilities, cooperatives, private developers, government-funded utilities, independent power producers, independent transmission companies, industrial facility owners, and other contractors. The Commercial and Industrial segment provides a range of services, including design, installation, maintenance, and repair of commercial and industrial wiring; and installation of intelligent transportation systems, roadway lighting, and signalization for airports, hospitals, data centers, hotels, stadiums, commercial and industrial facilities, clean energy projects, manufacturing plants, processing facilities, water/waste-water treatment facilities, mining facilities, intelligent transportation systems, roadway lighting, signalization, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. This segment serves general contractors, commercial and industrial facility owners, governmental agencies, and developers. The company was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Thornton, Colorado.

About Sterling Infrastructure

Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. engages in the provision of e-infrastructure, transportation, and building solutions primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: E-Infrastructure Solutions, Transportation Solutions, and Building Solutions. The E-Infrastructure Solutions segment provides site development services for the blue-chip end users in the e-commerce distribution center, data center, manufacturing, warehousing, and power generation sectors. The Transportation Solutions segment is involved in the development of infrastructure and rehabilitation projects for highways, roads, bridges, airports, ports, rail, and storm drainage systems for the departments of transportation in various states, regional transit authorities, airport authorities, port authorities, water authorities, and railroads. The Building Solutions segment provides residential and commercial concrete foundations for single-family and multi-family homes, parking structures, elevated slabs, other concrete work for developers and general contractors, as well as provides plumbing services for residential builds. The company was formerly known as Sterling Construction Company, Inc. and changed its name to Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. in June 2022. Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas.