Contrasting Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ:ROCK) & Caesarstone (NASDAQ:CSTE)

Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ:ROCK) and Caesarstone (NASDAQ:CSTE) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Gibraltar Industries and Caesarstone, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gibraltar Industries	1	1	1	1	2.50
Caesarstone	1	0	0	0	1.00

Risk and Volatility

Gibraltar Industries has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Caesarstone has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.4% of Gibraltar Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.7% of Caesarstone shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Gibraltar Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Gibraltar Industries and Caesarstone’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gibraltar Industries	-10.43%	11.23%	4.91%
Caesarstone	-37.37%	-32.36%	-11.71%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Gibraltar Industries and Caesarstone”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gibraltar Industries	$1.14 billion	1.25	-$44.39 million	($5.04)	-9.49
Caesarstone	$397.23 million	0.30	-$137.47 million	($4.13)	-0.82

Gibraltar Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Caesarstone. Gibraltar Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Caesarstone, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Gibraltar Industries beats Caesarstone on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gibraltar Industries

Gibraltar Industries, Inc. manufactures and provides products and services for the renewable energy, residential, agtech, and infrastructure markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Renewables, Residential, Agtech, and Infrastructure. The Renewables segment designs, engineers, manufactures, and installs solar racking and electrical balance of systems for commercial and distributed generation scale solar installations. The Residential segment offers roof and foundation ventilation products and accessories; mail and electronic package solutions, including single mailboxes, cluster style mail and parcel boxes for single and multi-family housing, and electronic package locker systems; roof edgings and flashings; soffits and trims; drywall corner beads; metal roofing and accessories; rain dispersion products comprising gutters and accessories; and exterior retractable awnings. This segment also provides electronic parcel lockers, pipe flashings, and remote-controlled deck awnings and valances for sun protection. The Agtech segment offers growing and processing solutions, including the designing, engineering, manufacturing, construction, maintenance, and support of greenhouses; and indoor growing operations for retail, fruits and vegetables, flowers, cannabis, commercial, institutional and conservatories, and car wash structure applications. The Infrastructure segment offers expansion joints, structural bearings, rubber pre-formed seals and other sealants, elastomeric concrete, and bridge cable protection systems. It serves solar developers, home improvement retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and contractors, as well as institutional and commercial growers of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and plants. Gibraltar Industries, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Buffalo, New York.

About Caesarstone

Caesarstone Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets engineered stone and other materials under the Caesarstone brand in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Australia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Israel. The company’s engineered stone slabs are primarily used as indoor and outdoor kitchen countertops in the renovation and remodeling, and residential construction sectors. Its products are also used in other applications, such as vanity tops, wall panels, back splashes, floor tiles, stairs, furniture, and other interior and exterior surfaces that are used in various residential and non-residential applications. The company also offers porcelain products under the Lioli brand for countertops, flooring, and cladding applications; sells natural stone, sinks, and various ancillary fabrication tools and materials; and resells natural stones, as well as various ancillaries, and fabrication and installation accessories, as well as provides fabrication and installation services. It sells its products directly to wholesalers, resellers, and fabricators; and through direct sales force and indirect network of independent distributors. The company was formerly known as Caesarstone Sdot Yam Ltd. and changed its name to Caesarstone Ltd. in June 2016. Caesarstone Ltd. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Menashe, Israel.