JFB Construction (NASDAQ:JFB – Get Free Report) and SOLV Energy (NASDAQ:MWH – Get Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.
Profitability
This table compares JFB Construction and SOLV Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| JFB Construction | -25.19% | -28.42% | -25.03% |
| SOLV Energy | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for JFB Construction and SOLV Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| JFB Construction | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.25 |
| SOLV Energy | 1 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 2.69 |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares JFB Construction and SOLV Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| JFB Construction | $42.70 million | 2.34 | -$5.27 million | ($0.54) | -9.16 |
| SOLV Energy | $3.17 billion | 1.72 | $60.72 million | $0.30 | 89.70 |
SOLV Energy has higher revenue and earnings than JFB Construction. JFB Construction is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SOLV Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
SOLV Energy beats JFB Construction on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.
About JFB Construction
JFB is a commercial and residential real estate construction and development company. The Company’s management is dedicated to delivering high-quality services to commercial and residential markets, such as retail corporate buildouts, multifamily community developments and luxury residential homes, with a focus on fostering long-term relationships with clients, partners, and communities. Our comprehensive suite of services encompasses everything from initial project planning and design to the final stages of construction and project management. Our primary markets vary across our business segments. Our commercial contracting segment has completed projects in 36 states, delivering over 2 million square feet of commercial retail and shopping center space construction and improvements. This segment’s market is driven primarily by our ability to provide services to franchisees and franchisors nationwide, regardless of project location because of our operational flexibility and established relationships with franchisees and franchisors alike. While we have historically focused on the Southern Atlantic region, including Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, where we have established a strong reputation and network, our growth is increasingly tied to the strength of our relationships with franchisees and the trust of franchisors who rely on us as preferred builders for multiple projects. Our real estate development segment is currently concentrated in South Florida, with plans to leverage our regional success to expand into other southern and U.S. markets by identifying market opportunities and joint venture partners that align with our objectives. Our residential construction segment is also focused on South Florida, with no current plans for expansion beyond this market. Management believes we will leverage our established industry relationships, experience operating in various jurisdictions and navigating complex construction regulations to meet our growth objectives of continuing to expand our market throughout more of the United States and successfully winning bids for larger construction projects. The Company intends to focus its business in states with increased population and GDP growth, such as Florida, Texas and South Carolina. However, as we expand into new territories, our reputation for excellence will be less known by new clients and we will need to compete with other construction companies that may have been operating in a given region for years and already have built up reliable networks of clients, vendors, contractors, and other market participants. We believe our ability to rely on our relationships within the franchise industry and more generally the real estate development industry, should offset some of this potential risk, however by continuing to build on our experience and proven track record. Our expansion and growth goals, some of which will come with more capital intensive projects, may expose the Company to greater risks related to lack of performance, faltering relationships, improper investment of resources or otherwise. The Company also recognizes operations are likely to fluctuate significantly and historical results should not be considered indicative of results for any future periods. While taking into account the inherent risks, it is our intent to capitalize on our increased access to capital and credibility from this offering to fund new projects and increase our bond-ability fueling our intended growth. Our ability to obtain surety bonds is important for expanding our operations, as bonding is often required for bidding on public and large private projects. Increased bonding capacity allows us to pursue more high-value contracts, particularly in government and infrastructure sectors, enhancing revenue opportunities and market diversification. It also strengthens our credibility with clients and lenders, reflecting our financial stability. This credibility can lead to improved financial terms and mitigate risks associated with contract defaults, enabling the company to confidently take on larger projects and drive long-term growth. We have extensive experience building and remodeling hundreds of franchise locations for corporate franchisors and franchisees for national, fast expanding brands, including Orange Theory Fitness, European Wax Center, Massage Envy, Planet Fitness, V/O Medspa, Arby’s, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Amazing Lash Studio, Starbucks and Save-A-Lot. Franchise buildout and remodeling has represented 81% and 63% of our revenue during the fiscal year 2023 and 2022, respectively, with one significant franchise client, Planet Fitness, accounting for 50% and 52% of our total revenue over the same periods. This significant franchise client also represents 25% of our total revenues year-to-date. For our franchise clients, we offer interior remodeling, space optimization, and the integration of advanced design to create functional and attractive retail environments. The Company expects consistent and reliable revenue for this division based on established relationships and clients affiliated with reputable name brands. Should such relationships be compromised or key individuals leave their positions with franchisors, our consistent revenue sources could be adversely impacted. However, the departure of key individuals may create new opportunities with the franchisors these individuals transition to. We intend to continue to utilize our commitment to quality craftsmanship, attention to detail, and customer satisfaction to set us apart in this market. Should the quality of our workmanship suffer through poor project management or quality control, our reputation may be impacted, reducing our ability to attract new clients or retain past clients. Each project with our significant franchise client, Planet Fitness, is under a separate agreement, but our standard business arrangement involves a fixed-price commercial construction contract valued between $1.5-2 million, with an anticipated completion timeline of 12-14 weeks. Payments are due within 30 days of invoice, aligning with project milestones to ensure cash flow and maintain project pace. Management believes JFB Construction’s unique selling proposition lies in our ability to tailor solutions to meet the specific needs of each client, familiarity of the needs of our clients within the franchise construction niche, and delivering projects on time and within budget. Further, we attempt to offer efficient and economical solutions for our client’s expanding franchisee and franchisor businesses by allowing them to utilize the same contractor for many of their franchise locations. Presently, the Company has begun to expand its real estate development segment by being the general contractor on low rise apartment and townhome developments projects. In the future, the Company also intends to invest directly or through joint ventures in real estate development projects. While these investments present a pathway to generate additional revenues by selling completed projects at a premium, generating rental income and/or to vertically integrate by securing valuable construction contracts associated with the projects, they also involve considerable capital commitments and exposure to market volatility, project delays, and other risks associated with real estate development. The illiquid nature of these investments further amplifies the challenges, as capital is often tied up for extended periods, limiting the company’s flexibility to redeploy resources. We believe the Company’s integrated approach, combining investment with the potential to secure construction contracts, will offset such risks by securing additional large-scale construction projects and potential revenue generated from the investments. Presently, our focus is on apartment complexes and townhouses, with a potential shift to mixed-use buildings, hotels and commercial properties in the future as our business expands and new opportunities are presented. Our residential construction segment focuses on custom home builds, in addition to certain remodeling projects primarily in the South Florida region with a focus on superior craftsmanship and attention to detail. Some of our luxury residential projects also include state of the art equestrian facilities. In 2024, we have focused more on growth of this segment to continue to diversify our service offerings. Our relationships with architects, engineers and designers create opportunities for these projects and we will continue to foster these relationships to continue growth in this division. Our corporate headquarters are located at 1300 S. Dixie Highway, Suite B, Lantana, FL.
About SOLV Energy
We are a leading provider of infrastructure services to the power industry, including engineering, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, operations, maintenance and repowering. We have constructed more than 500 power plants representing 20 GWdc of generating capacity since we were founded in 2008, and we currently provide O&M services under long-term agreements to 146 operating power plants representing over 18 GWdc of generating capacity. Engineering News Record ranks us the second largest solar contractor in the United States based on 2024 revenues and the seventh largest contractor in power overall. We also believe we are a leading builder of high-voltage substations in the southwestern United States. We specialize in designing, building and maintaining utility-scale solar and battery storage projects with capacities of 200 MWdc and larger and related T&D infrastructure. We built one in every nine MWs of utility-scale solar projects constructed in the United States from 2014 to 2024 and were the second largest builder of battery energy storage systems in 2024 according to Solar Power World. We are the second largest provider of O&M services to existing utility-scale solar energy projects in the Americas based on the number of MWdc managed in 2024 according to Wood Mackenzie. As of September 30, 2025, 93% of our total backlog was EPC services and 7% was O&M services, including estimated corrective maintenance. Demand for new generation capacity and related infrastructure services is growing rapidly in the United States. The combination of growth in the number and capacity of data centers, manufacturing reshoring, increasing use of HVAC caused by more extreme weather, electrification of industrial processes and retirement of existing coal-fired generation facilities are resulting in rapid load growth that cannot be met by existing generation capacity. According to Wood Mackenzie, an average of 65 GWac of new generation capacity will be constructed annually in the United States from 2025 through 2034 which is nearly double the prior ten-year period’s average. Solar and battery storage projects will account for 66% of the capacity added from 2025 through 2034 compared with 42% over the prior ten year period, according to Wood Mackenzie. Solar and battery storage are increasing as a percentage of new generation because they are easier to permit, use equipment that is more readily available, deliver a lower levelized cost of energy and are faster to build than competing forms of power generation such as gas and nuclear. As of September 30, 2025, we had backlog of approximately $6.7 billion. Our revenue in future periods may differ from the amounts in our backlog due to contract changes or terminations and other factors. Our customers include project developers, independent power producers and utilities. Our new construction projects are typically executed over 12 to 18 months pursuant to one or more LNTP agreements followed by a lump sum EPC contract. Under LNTP agreements, our customers pay us to perform initial engineering and site investigation work, procure long lead time equipment and begin initial mobilization of our workforce and equipment, the results of which we use to refine our price to construct the project. LNTP agreements significantly reduce our risk because they allow us to identify unforeseen costs and incorporate them into our price priorto entering into the EPC contract. Our customers also benefit from LNTP agreements because they reduce the probability that there will be unforeseen change orders or delays during construction. We provide O&M services pursuant to long-term contracts that typically obligate the customer to pay us a fixed fee for operations and routine preventative maintenance and additional fees for corrective maintenance on a time and materials basis. Since January 2022, we have generated annual corrective maintenance revenues equal to 70% to 90% of the amount our customers pay us in fixed fees for operations and preventative maintenance services. Our O&M contracts typically have a minimum term of five years and renew automatically for successive one year periods at the end of the initial term. When a customer enters into an O&M agreement with us, they typically give us operational control of their power plants which we manage through a NERC-registered medium impact control center located in our San Diego headquarters. Our control center enables us to provide our customers remote monitoring, diagnostic and dispatch capabilities on a 24/7 basis, utilizing real-time data to remotely detect plant performance issues, identify targeted solutions and dispatch field technicians for repair and maintenance services. Our control center captures an aggregate of approximately 2 million data points per second across all of the power plants that we manage. We use this data to improve our construction methods, make better equipment selections and gain insights into ways to improve uptime and increase energy generation for our customers. Many of our customers that use us to build new power plants also use our O&M services. We are headquartered in San Diego, California and have 14 additional locations across the United States. We operate a NERC CIP compliant control center in our San Diego headquarters that we use to monitor and manage the operations of our customers’ power plants. We were founded in 2008 as Swinerton Renewable Energy (“SRE”) and operated as a division of Swinerton Builders, one of the largest employee-owned commercial construction firms in the U.S. and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swinerton. We were acquired by American Securities in December 2021, along with SOLV, Inc., a subsidiary we formed in 2012 to provide operating and maintenance services to both in-house and third-party power plants. Following our acquisition by American Securities, SRE and SOLV Inc. were rebranded as SOLV Energy. In October 2024, we merged with CS Energy, LLC, a leading provider of EPC services for solar and battery storage focused on the East and Southeast regions of the United States. Our principal executive offices are located in San Diego, CA.
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