Critical Review: Perma-Fix Environmental Services (NASDAQ:PESI) and Kaiser Group (OTCMKTS:KGHI)

Kaiser Group (OTCMKTS:KGHI) and Perma-Fix Environmental Services (NASDAQ:PESI) are both construction companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Kaiser Group and Perma-Fix Environmental Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kaiser Group	0	0	0	0	N/A
Perma-Fix Environmental Services	0	0	1	0	3.00

Perma-Fix Environmental Services has a consensus target price of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 99.56%. Given Perma-Fix Environmental Services’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Perma-Fix Environmental Services is more favorable than Kaiser Group.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Kaiser Group and Perma-Fix Environmental Services’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kaiser Group	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Perma-Fix Environmental Services	$89.74 million	1.59	$490,000.00	($0.20)	-45.10

Perma-Fix Environmental Services has higher revenue and earnings than Kaiser Group.

Profitability

This table compares Kaiser Group and Perma-Fix Environmental Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kaiser Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Perma-Fix Environmental Services	-3.20%	-5.82%	-2.90%

Volatility and Risk

Kaiser Group has a beta of -28.25, indicating that its share price is 2,925% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Perma-Fix Environmental Services has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

25.5% of Perma-Fix Environmental Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.8% of Kaiser Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.4% of Perma-Fix Environmental Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Perma-Fix Environmental Services beats Kaiser Group on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kaiser Group

Kaiser Group Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary, Kaiser Aircraft Industries, Inc., provides aircraft maintenance and modification services for government, military, and commercial customers. It also manufactures and assemblies parts and kits. The company was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

About Perma-Fix Environmental Services

Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an environmental and technology know-how company in the United States. The company through Treatment and Services segments. The Treatment segment offers nuclear, low-level radioactive, mixed waste, hazardous and non-hazardous waste treatment, and processing and disposal services through treatment and storage facilities. This segment is also involved in the research and development activities to identify, develop, and implement waste processing techniques for problematic waste streams. The Services segment provides technical services, including professional radiological measurement and site survey of government and commercial installations; health physics services; integrated occupational safety and health services; and consulting, engineering, project and waste management, environmental, decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) field, technical and management personnel and services; and waste management services. This segment also offers nuclear services, including D&D of government and commercial facilities, including engineering, technology applications, specialty services, logistics, transportation, processing, and disposal; and license termination support, such as project management, planning, characterization, waste stream identification and delineation, remediation/demolition, compliance demonstration, final status survey, reporting, transportation, disposal and emergency response. In addition, it maintains, services, maintains, calibrates, and sources health physics, IH and customized nuclear, environmental, and occupational safety and health instruments. The company provides its services to research institutions, commercial companies, public utilities, and governmental agencies through direct sales to customers or through intermediaries. Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.