Contrasting MasTec (NYSE:MTZ) & Cardinal Infrastructure Group (NASDAQ:CDNL)

Cardinal Infrastructure Group (NASDAQ:CDNL) and MasTec (NYSE:MTZ) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

78.1% of MasTec shares are owned by institutional investors. 61.7% of Cardinal Infrastructure Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 21.4% of MasTec shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Cardinal Infrastructure Group and MasTec, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cardinal Infrastructure Group	1	1	3	0	2.40
MasTec	0	1	19	1	3.00

Cardinal Infrastructure Group currently has a consensus price target of $52.33, indicating a potential upside of 46.28%. MasTec has a consensus price target of $427.32, indicating a potential upside of 48.71%. Given MasTec’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe MasTec is more favorable than Cardinal Infrastructure Group.

Profitability

This table compares Cardinal Infrastructure Group and MasTec’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cardinal Infrastructure Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
MasTec	3.07%	18.08%	5.97%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cardinal Infrastructure Group and MasTec”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cardinal Infrastructure Group	$456.05 million	3.36	$22.69 million	$0.23	155.54
MasTec	$14.30 billion	1.61	$399.04 million	$6.27	45.83

MasTec has higher revenue and earnings than Cardinal Infrastructure Group. MasTec is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cardinal Infrastructure Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

MasTec beats Cardinal Infrastructure Group on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cardinal Infrastructure Group

We provide a comprehensive suite of infrastructure services to the residential, commercial, industrial, municipal, and state infrastructure markets. Our operations leverage a large highly skilled workforce and a fleet of specialized equipment to deliver wet utility installations (water, sewer, and stormwater systems), as well as grading, site clearing, erosion control, drilling and blasting, paving, and other related site services. We are becoming the platform of choice for a diverse array of infrastructure construction projects in our target geographies that require high-level technical expertise and sophistication. We seek to safely execute site work solutions within both the individual project’s schedule and budget, while strengthening our relationships with our growing list of customers. We believe we are one of the fastest-growing, full-service turnkey infrastructure services companies in the Southeastern United States. We deliver our suite of comprehensive infrastructure services that support the planning, preparation, installation, and development of residential, commercial, industrial, municipal, and state infrastructure projects primarily through in-house teams and equipment, significantly reducing the need for outsourcing or subcontractors which enables industry-leading project execution. Led by an experienced, long-tenured management team and supported by talented project managers, we are driven by a culture of safety and employee development. Our high-level expertise, technical sophistication, and expedited delivery of services result in strong margins. We believe we are well positioned to continue growing our revenue and profitability in a very fragmented and highly attractive industry. The Southeastern United States is one of the fastest-growing regions with respect to population and job growth. The three distinct and attractive markets in which we primarily operate today (the greater Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro areas of North Carolina) have experienced a combined annual population growth of 6.6% from 2020 to 2024, compared to 2.6% for the rest of the United States. Our footprint is strategically aligned with the North Carolina Research Triangle, which houses numerous educational institutions and knowledge-sector companies that are among the core drivers of job growth in the state. In 2024, North Carolina issued approximately nine new housing permits per 1,000 residents, compared to about four new permits per 1,000 residents for the United States overall. We maintain deep, long-standing relationships with a diverse customer base, including some of the largest regional and national home builders, as well as general contractors supporting commercial and industrial construction. We believe these relationships enable us to consistently win new contracts and expand both within our current markets and into new geographies. We are already fully integrated within our Raleigh market and are completing integration buildouts in our other markets. We believe this significantly reduces wait times between each phase of construction, minimizes timeline risk, and increases the likelihood of successful execution. As the first step in the construction process, customers highly value our speed of delivery, quality of work, and reputation for excellence, which results in recurring business and better margins. Our dedication to proven processes, technology, and safety has enabled our strong growth and reputation. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, we generated revenue of approximately $310.2 million, supported by a robust backlog of approximately $646.0 million at September 30, 2025, compared to revenue of approximately $230.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. For the year ended December 31, 2024, we generated revenue of approximately $315.2 million, supported by a robust backlog of approximately $512 million at December 31, 2024, compared to revenue of approximately $248.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 and a backlog of approximately $401 million at December 31, 2023. Cardinal NC was founded in 2013 by Jeremy Spivey, our Chief Executive Officer, in Raleigh, North Carolina. We originated as a niche provider of wet utilities installation and have, over time, both organically and through acquisitions, added capabilities, including grading, site clearing, erosion control, drilling and blasting, paving, and related site services, to become a full-service, end-to-end provider of turnkey infrastructure services. Acquisitions have been an integral part of our growth since our founding, and we believe they account for approximately 27% of our growth since 2013. We have completed six acquisitions to date. We deepened our presence within the Raleigh market through the acquisition of Harrelson Utility Repair & Contracting Inc. in 2021 and G. Goodwin Enterprises, LLC in 2022. We subsequently expanded into the Charlotte area through the acquisition of Monroe Roadways, Inc. in July 2023 and Purcell Construction, Inc. in January 2025. In 2024, we expanded into the Greensboro market organically, and in May 2025, we acquired Page & Associates, Inc., a local provider based in Greensboro. In October 2025, we acquired Red Clay Industries, Inc., a provider of asphalt paving, concrete contracting, concrete reclamation and soil stabilization in North Carolina. Our principal executive offices are located in Raleigh, NC.

About MasTec

MasTec, Inc., an infrastructure construction company, provides engineering, building, installation, maintenance, and upgrade services for communications, energy, utility, and other infrastructure primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates through five segments: Communications, Clean Energy and Infrastructure, Oil and Gas, Power Delivery, and Other. The company build infrastructure for wireless and wireline/fiber communications; clean energy infrastructure comprising renewable energy power generation; pipeline infrastructure, including natural gas, water, carbon capture sequestration, and other product transport; power delivery services, such as electrical and gas transmission, and distribution systems; industrial and heavy civil infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and rail; and water infrastructure. It also installs electrical and other gas distribution and transmission systems, power generation, power generation, civil and industrial facilities, pipelines, and fiber optic and other cables, as well as install-to-the-home services. In addition, the company offers maintenance and upgrade support services comprising maintenance of customers' distribution facilities, networks, and infrastructure, including communications, power generation, pipeline, electrical distribution and transmission, and civil and industrial and heavy civil infrastructure; service restoration for natural disasters and accidents; and routine replacements and upgrades to overhauls. Its customers include wireless and wireline/fiber service providers, broadband operators, install-to-the-home service providers, public and private energy providers, including renewable and other energy providers, pipeline operators, civil and industrial infrastructure providers, and government entities. MasTec, Inc. was founded in 1929 and is headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida.