Royal Boskalis Westminster (OTCMKTS:KKWFF) & IES (NASDAQ:IESC) Critical Contrast

IES (NASDAQ:IESC) and Royal Boskalis Westminster (OTCMKTS:KKWFF) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

86.6% of IES shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.4% of Royal Boskalis Westminster shares are held by institutional investors. 56.4% of IES shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for IES and Royal Boskalis Westminster, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IES	0	1	1	0	2.50
Royal Boskalis Westminster	0	0	0	0	0.00

IES currently has a consensus target price of $458.00, suggesting a potential downside of 39.02%. Given IES’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe IES is more favorable than Royal Boskalis Westminster.

Profitability

This table compares IES and Royal Boskalis Westminster’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IES	11.40%	35.70%	19.68%
Royal Boskalis Westminster	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares IES and Royal Boskalis Westminster”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IES	$3.37 billion	4.44	$303.06 million	$22.51	33.37
Royal Boskalis Westminster	N/A	N/A	N/A	$4.11	7.85

IES has higher revenue and earnings than Royal Boskalis Westminster. Royal Boskalis Westminster is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than IES, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

IES beats Royal Boskalis Westminster on 11 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IES

IES Holdings, Inc. engages in the design and installation of integrated electrical and technology systems, and provides infrastructure products and services in the United States. The Communications segment designs, installs, and maintains network infrastructure within data centers for co-location and managed hosting customers; corporate, educational, financial, hospitality, and healthcare buildings; e-commerce distribution centers; and high-tech manufacturing facilities. This segment also provides design and installation services for audio/visual, telephone, fire, and wireless access and intrusion alarm systems; and engages in designing/building, servicing, and maintaining data network systems. The Residential segment offers electrical installations to single-family housing and multi-family apartments; and cable television installations to residential and light commercial applications, as well as installs residential solar power for new construction and existing residences. The Infrastructure Solutions segment maintains and repairs alternating and direct current electric motors and generators, and power generating and distribution equipment; manufactures custom-engineered metal enclosed bus duct solutions used in power distribution; manufactures custom commercial and industrial generator enclosures; manufactures, re-manufactures, and repairs industrial lifting magnets; and maintains and repairs railroad main and auxiliary generators, main alternators, and traction motors. The Commercial & Industrial segment offers electrical and mechanical design, construction, and maintenance services for office buildings, manufacturing facilities, data centers, chemical plants, refineries, wind farms, solar facilities, municipal infrastructures, and health care facilities. The company was formerly known as Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. and changed its name to IES Holdings, Inc. in May 2016. IES Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Royal Boskalis Westminster

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. provides dredging, offshore energy, and maritime services worldwide. Its Dredging & Inland Infra segment constructs and maintains ports and waterways; and provides land reclamation, coastal defense, riverbank protection, and underwater rock fragmentation services. This segment also extracts raw materials; designs, prepares, and executes civil infra works, including the construction of roads and railroads, bridges, dams, viaducts, and tunnels; performs specialist works, such as soil improvement and land remediation; and operates as a contractor of dry infrastructure projects. The company's Offshore Energy segment is involved in the engineering, construction, maintenance, and decommissioning of oil and liquefied natural gas import/export facilities, offshore platforms, pipelines and cables, and offshore wind farms. This segment also offers heavy transport, lift and installation work, and diving and remotely operated vehicle services, as well as dredging, offshore pipeline and cable installation, rock installation, and marine activities and survey services. Its Towage & Salvage segment offers towage services to incoming and outgoing oceangoing vessels; and berthing and unberthing of tankers, pilotage, subsea inspection and maintenance, firefighting, and the coupling and uncoupling of terminal connections, as well as operates and manages onshore and offshore terminals. This segment also provides assistance to vessels in distress, shipwrecks or damaged offshore platforms removal, environmental care, and consultancy services. The company primarily serves oil, gas, and wind energy companies; port and terminal operators; governments; shipping and insurance companies; international project developers; and mining companies and related EPC contractors and subcontractors. It operates a fleet of approximately 600 vessels and floating equipment. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Papendrecht, the Netherlands. As of September 20, 2022, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. was taken private.