3 Reasons to Avoid TPC and 1 Stock to Buy Instead

What a time it’s been for Tutor Perini. In the past six months alone, the company’s stock price has increased by a massive 63.3%, reaching $68.23 per share. This was partly due to its solid quarterly results, and the run-up might have investors contemplating their next move.

Is there a buying opportunity in Tutor Perini, or does it present a risk to your portfolio? Check out our in-depth research report to see what our analysts have to say, it’s free for active Edge members.

Why Is Tutor Perini Not Exciting?

We’re happy investors have made money, but we're cautious about Tutor Perini. Here are three reasons why TPC doesn't excite us and a stock we'd rather own.

1. Long-Term Revenue Growth Flatter Than a Pancake

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Unfortunately, Tutor Perini struggled to consistently increase demand as its $5.10 billion of sales for the trailing 12 months was close to its revenue five years ago. This was below our standards and is a sign of lacking business quality.

2. Low Gross Margin Reveals Weak Structural Profitability

For industrials businesses, cost of sales is usually comprised of the direct labor, raw materials, and supplies needed to offer a product or service. These costs can be impacted by inflation and supply chain dynamics in the short term and a company’s purchasing power and scale over the long term.

Tutor Perini has bad unit economics for an industrials business, signaling it operates in a competitive market. As you can see below, it averaged a 6.7% gross margin over the last five years. That means Tutor Perini paid its suppliers a lot of money ($93.34 for every $100 in revenue) to run its business.

3. EPS Trending Down

Analyzing the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) shows whether a company's incremental sales were profitable – for example, revenue could be inflated through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Sadly for Tutor Perini, its EPS declined by 18.8% annually over the last five years while its revenue was flat. This tells us the company struggled because its fixed cost base made it difficult to adjust to choppy demand.

Final Judgment

Tutor Perini isn’t a terrible business, but it doesn’t pass our quality test. Following the recent surge, the stock trades at 15.5× forward P/E (or $68.23 per share). While this valuation is reasonable, we don’t really see a big opportunity at the moment. We're fairly confident there are better investments elsewhere. We’d recommend looking at our favorite semiconductor picks and shovels play.

High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions

Your portfolio can’t afford to be based on yesterday’s story. The risk in a handful of heavily crowded stocks is rising daily.

The names generating the next wave of massive growth are right here in our Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).

Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.

StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here.