Kier Group (KIE) Competitors

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

Which has more risk and volatility, BBY or KIE?

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

Is BBY or KIE a better dividend stock?

Balfour Beatty pays an annual dividend of GBX 12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Kier Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 5 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Balfour Beatty pays out 28.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kier Group pays out 50.3% 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.

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

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

Is BBY or KIE 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
Balfour Beatty	2.85%	19.46%	1.63%
Kier Group	1.09%	8.23%	2.18%

Do analysts rate BBY or KIE?

Balfour Beatty presently has a consensus target price of GBX 655, suggesting a potential upside of 10.92%. Kier Group has a consensus target price of GBX 210, suggesting a potential upside of 3.96%. Given Balfour Beatty's higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Balfour Beatty is more favorable than Kier Group.

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

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, BBY or KIE?

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
Balfour Beatty	£7.72B	0.39	£219.98M	£42.83	13.79
Kier Group	£3.92B	0.22	£42.84M	£9.93	20.34

Does the media favor BBY or KIE?

In the previous week, Balfour Beatty had 5 more articles in the media than Kier Group. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Balfour Beatty and 2 mentions for Kier Group. Kier Group's average media sentiment score of 0.58 beat Balfour Beatty's score of 0.56 indicating that Kier Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Balfour Beatty	0 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kier Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Balfour Beatty beats Kier Group on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.