L.B. Foster Company (FSTR) vs Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC)

L.B. Foster Company and Norfolk Southern Corporation are both Railroads companies. Norfolk Southern Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $70.3B against $394.7M — 178.2× the size. Norfolk Southern Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 26.7× against 33.8×. L.B. Foster Company grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 10.1% against 2.97%. Norfolk Southern Corporation has the higher net margin (21.0% vs 2.04%) and the higher return on invested capital (7.93% vs 6.88%). Across the 22 metrics below, Norfolk Southern Corporation leads on 12 and L.B. Foster Company on 10.

Valuation

Metric FSTR NSC Railroads median
P/E 33.76 26.73 26.88
P/S 0.69 5.61 2.58
P/B 2.17 4.33 4.33
Price to free cash flow 8.23 36.91 26.65
EV/EBITDA 11.97 15.77 13.50
EV/Sales 0.77 6.85 4.56
Earnings yield 2.96% 3.74% 3.59%
Free cash flow yield 12.15% 2.71% 3.41%

Profitability

Metric FSTR NSC Railroads median
Gross margin 21.36% 68.79% 30.61%
Operating margin 4.36% 32.19% 24.29%
Net margin 2.04% 21.00% 10.59%
Free cash flow margin 8.43% 15.20% 8.43%
Return on equity 6.43% 16.97% 11.49%
Return on assets 3.33% 5.90% 3.98%
Return on invested capital 6.88% 7.93% 7.59%

Growth

Metric FSTR NSC Railroads median
Revenue growth (TTM) 10.13% 2.97% 2.97%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (82.26%) 10.20% —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 1.66% 4.47% 5.27%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (0.10%) 7.38% 0.88%

Health

Metric FSTR NSC Railroads median
Debt to equity 0.27 1.02 0.58
Current ratio 2.00 0.83 1.03
Net debt to EBITDA 1.12 2.71 2.71

Dividend

Metric FSTR NSC Railroads median
Dividend yield — 2.19% 2.17%
Payout ratio 0.00 0.47 0.19

Size

Metric FSTR NSC Railroads median
Market cap 394.70m 70.34b 2.22b

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