Financial Comparison: Knife River (NYSE:KNF) & Hillman Solutions (NASDAQ:HLMN)

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) and Hillman Solutions (NASDAQ:HLMN) are both construction companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Knife River and Hillman Solutions”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Knife River	$3.15 billion	1.28	$157.07 million	$2.57	27.54
Hillman Solutions	$1.56 billion	0.88	$40.31 million	$0.19	37.05

Knife River has higher revenue and earnings than Hillman Solutions. Knife River is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hillman Solutions, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Knife River and Hillman Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Knife River	4.58%	9.35%	3.96%
Hillman Solutions	2.30%	9.15%	4.71%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.1% of Knife River shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Hillman Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Knife River shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of Hillman Solutions shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Knife River has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hillman Solutions has a beta of 1.47, suggesting that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Knife River and Hillman Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Knife River	1	3	6	0	2.50
Hillman Solutions	1	1	3	0	2.40

Knife River currently has a consensus target price of $98.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.48%. Hillman Solutions has a consensus target price of $12.50, suggesting a potential upside of 77.56%. Given Hillman Solutions’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Hillman Solutions is more favorable than Knife River.

Summary

Knife River beats Hillman Solutions on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Knife River

Knife River Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides aggregates- led construction materials and contracting services in the United States. It operates through Pacific, Northwest, Mountain, Central, and Energy Services segments. The company mines, processes, and sells construction aggregates, including crushed stone and sand, and gravel; and produces and sells asphalt and ready-mix concrete. It also provides contracting service, such as heavy-civil construction, asphalt and concrete paving, and site development and grading. In addition, the company sells cement, merchandise, and other building materials and related services. The company sells its construction materials to public and private-sector customers, including federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as industrial, commercial and residential developers, and other private parties; and provides its contracting services to public-sector customers for the development and servicing of highways, local roads, bridges, and other public-infrastructure projects. Knife River Corporation was founded in 1917 and is based in Bismarck, North Dakota.

About Hillman Solutions

Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hillman is a leading North American provider of complete hardware solutions, delivered with industry best customer service to over 40,000 locations. Hillman designs innovative product and merchandising solutions for complex categories that deliver an outstanding customer experience to home improvement centers, mass merchants, national and regional hardware stores, pet supply stores, and OEM & Industrial customers. Leveraging a world-class distribution and sales network, Hillman delivers a “small business” experience with “big business” efficiency.