Willdan Group (WLDN) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate WLDN or STRL?

Willdan Group currently has a consensus price target of $111.50, suggesting a potential downside of 7.35%. Sterling Infrastructure has a consensus price target of $355.00, suggesting a potential upside of 25.82%. Given Sterling Infrastructure's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sterling Infrastructure is more favorable than Willdan Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Willdan Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Sterling Infrastructure	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more risk and volatility, WLDN or STRL?

Willdan 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 1.46, meaning that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, WLDN or STRL?

Sterling Infrastructure has higher revenue and earnings than Willdan Group. Sterling Infrastructure is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Willdan 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
Willdan Group	$565.80M	3.12	$22.57M	$2.39	50.36
Sterling Infrastructure	$2.12B	4.06	$257.46M	$9.20	30.67

Is WLDN or STRL more profitable?

Sterling Infrastructure has a net margin of 13.33% compared to Willdan Group's net margin of 5.60%. Sterling Infrastructure's return on equity of 27.93% beat Willdan Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Willdan Group	5.60%	18.60%	9.65%
Sterling Infrastructure	13.33%	27.93%	11.18%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of WLDN or STRL?

72.3% of Willdan Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.0% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are held by institutional investors. 8.6% of Willdan Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Sterling Infrastructure shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer WLDN or STRL?

In the previous week, Sterling Infrastructure had 16 more articles in the media than Willdan Group. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for Sterling Infrastructure and 17 mentions for Willdan Group. Sterling Infrastructure's average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat Willdan Group's score of 0.62 indicating that Sterling Infrastructure is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Willdan Group	2 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Sterling Infrastructure	14 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Sterling Infrastructure beats Willdan Group on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.