Their focus on services is a smart move

Article Excerpt

Both of these engineering firms mainly focus on designing and consulting services. That cuts their risk to expensive cost overruns. We feel Stantec remains the better pick as it has much less exposure to unprofitable legacy projects. STANTEC INC. $56 is a buy. The stock (Toronto symbol STN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 111.9 million; Market cap: $6.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.stantec.com) offers you exposure to this leading seller of consulting, project-delivery, design and technology services. Stantec’s clients operate in a variety of industries, including oil and gas, transportation and construction. Stantec tends to use acquisitions to spur its growth. It cuts related risk by targeting smaller firms that are easy to absorb. Thanks to several purchases it completed in 2021, the company’s revenue in the quarter ended March 31, 2022, rose 19.5%, to $1.05 billion from $878.7 million a year earlier. If you factor out acquisitions, revenue improved 6.4%. The gains also…