Head to Head Analysis: Knife River (KNF) versus The Competition

Knife River (NYSE:KNF) is one of 26 publicly-traded companies in the “Mining & quarrying of nonmetallic minerals, except fuels” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Knife River to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.1% of Knife River shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.3% of shares of all “Mining & quarrying of nonmetallic minerals, except fuels” companies are owned by institutional investors. 7.6% of shares of all “Mining & quarrying of nonmetallic minerals, except fuels” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Knife River and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Knife River	6.46%	15.98%	7.14%
Knife River Competitors	21.32%	-27.11%	3.52%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Knife River and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Knife River	0	1	5	0	2.83
Knife River Competitors	183	764	947	7	2.41

Knife River presently has a consensus target price of $72.20, suggesting a potential downside of 4.97%. As a group, “Mining & quarrying of nonmetallic minerals, except fuels” companies have a potential upside of 11.39%. Given Knife River’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Knife River has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Knife River and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Knife River	$2.83 billion	$182.87 million	-0.15
Knife River Competitors	$1.91 billion	$273.00 million	5.53

Knife River has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Knife River is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Knife River Company Profile

Knife River Corporation provides aggregates-based construction materials and contracting services in the United States. It operates through six segments: Pacific, Northwest, Mountain, North Central, South, and Energy Services. The company mines, processes, and sells construction aggregates, including crushed stone and sand, and gravel; and produces and sells asphalt and ready-mix concrete, as well as provides contracting service, such as heavy-civil construction, asphalt and concrete paving, and site development and grading. It also sells merchandise and other building materials and related services. The company serves federal, state, and municipal governments for various projects, such as highways, bridges, airports, schools, public buildings, and other public-infrastructure projects, as well as industrial, commercial, and residential developers. The company was founded in 1917 and is based in Bismarck, North Dakota.