Kier Group (KIE) Competitors

Kier Group (LON:KIE) and Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, risk, valuation, community ranking and profitability.

Do analysts rate KIE or BBY?

Kier Group presently has a consensus target price of GBX 210, suggesting a potential upside of 19.58%. Balfour Beatty has a consensus target price of GBX 542.50, suggesting a potential upside of 9.07%. Given Kier Group's higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Kier Group is more favorable than Balfour Beatty.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kier Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Balfour Beatty	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of KIE or BBY?

92.3% of Kier Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.7% of Balfour Beatty shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.1% of Kier Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Balfour Beatty shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, KIE or BBY?

Kier Group has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Balfour Beatty has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor KIE or BBY?

Balfour Beatty received 79 more outperform votes than Kier Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 81.40% of users gave Kier Group an outperform vote while only 65.52% of users gave Balfour Beatty an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Kier Group	Outperform Votes 569 81.40%	Underperform Votes 130 18.60%
Balfour Beatty	Outperform Votes 648 65.52%	Underperform Votes 341 34.48%

Does the media prefer KIE or BBY?

In the previous week, Kier Group and Kier Group both had 2 articles in the media. Kier Group's average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled Balfour Beatty'saverage media sentiment score.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Kier Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Balfour Beatty	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is KIE or BBY more profitable?

Balfour Beatty has a net margin of 2.85% compared to Kier Group's net margin of 1.09%. Balfour Beatty's return on equity of 19.46% beat Kier Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kier Group	1.09%	8.23%	2.18%
Balfour Beatty	2.85%	19.46%	1.63%

Is KIE or BBY a better dividend stock?

Kier Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 5 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Balfour Beatty pays an annual dividend of GBX 12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Kier Group pays out 50.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Balfour Beatty pays out 28.0% 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.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, KIE or BBY?

Balfour Beatty has higher revenue and earnings than Kier Group. Balfour Beatty is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kier Group, 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
Kier Group	£3.92B	0.19	£42.84M	£9.93	17.68
Balfour Beatty	£7.72B	0.33	£219.98M	£42.83	11.61

Summary

Balfour Beatty beats Kier Group on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.