Aspen Aerogels (ASPN) Competitors

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) and Aspen Aerogels (NYSE:ASPN) are both small-cap construction companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk and community ranking.

Do analysts recommend GLDD or ASPN?

Aspen Aerogels has a consensus price target of $23.88, suggesting a potential upside of 225.72%. Given Great Lakes Dredge & Dock's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Aspen Aerogels is more favorable than Great Lakes Dredge & Dock.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A
Aspen Aerogels	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has better valuation & earnings, GLDD or ASPN?

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has higher revenue and earnings than Aspen Aerogels. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aspen Aerogels, 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
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	$648.78M	0.76	-$34.06M	-$0.64	-11.66
Aspen Aerogels	$180.36M	2.85	-$82.74M	-$1.41	-5.20

Which has more volatility and risk, GLDD or ASPN?

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aspen Aerogels has a beta of 2.01, indicating that its stock price is 101% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer GLDD or ASPN?

Aspen Aerogels received 66 more outperform votes than Great Lakes Dredge & Dock when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.93% of users gave Aspen Aerogels an outperform vote while only 60.91% of users gave Great Lakes Dredge & Dock an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	Outperform Votes 282 60.91%	Underperform Votes 181 39.09%
Aspen Aerogels	Outperform Votes 348 64.93%	Underperform Votes 188 35.07%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of GLDD or ASPN?

82.4% of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Aspen Aerogels shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Aspen Aerogels shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is GLDD or ASPN more profitable?

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has a net margin of -7.15% compared to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock's net margin of -37.58%. Aspen Aerogels' return on equity of -9.65% beat Great Lakes Dredge & Dock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	-7.15%	-9.65%	-3.60%
Aspen Aerogels	-37.58%	-19.27%	-12.60%

Does the media prefer GLDD or ASPN?

In the previous week, Aspen Aerogels had 3 more articles in the media than Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Aspen Aerogels and 1 mentions for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock. Aspen Aerogels' average media sentiment score of 0.75 beat Great Lakes Dredge & Dock's score of 0.10 indicating that Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Aspen Aerogels	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Aspen Aerogels beats Great Lakes Dredge & Dock on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.