I was reading up on this article in The Star last week. 

I have always favoured KERJAYA due to its strong numbers and steady order book replenishment (from KPPROP and E&O). 

The article from The Star highlighted the rise of the construction sector - how the major infra projects are going to be rolled out, the exposure to data centres, the mega projects, and so much more. 

Well, the big boys such as IJM, SUNCON and GAMUDA are all highlighted there already.

Interestingly, it also mentioned about smaller firms like INTA BINA and CREST BUILDER - securing jobs that were traditionally dominated by tier-one firms. 

The lower table are some estimated figures that I managed to pull out from i3investor and some media reports.

I think there are some mismatches... taking GAMUDA as a benchmark - where they lead on market cap, turnover, profit, outstanding order book and practically every other item, I think there are some serious upside for the next big boy counter such as SUNCON. Between SUNCON and IJM (of cos IJM has other business units such as plantations contributing as well), SUNCON is still the better counter with better upside as it is still much cheaper than IJM at the moment, but with similar outstanding order book going ahead. 

Then we look at the next tier guys - KERJAYA, INTA and CRESBLD. 

I do like CRESBLD as I have made good money previously from this counter. But then since Covid happened, there has been no dividends, and company been making losses. Now it seem to be coming back , but remains to be seen for now. Analysts estimates that they will make profits this year - and with a ballooning order book, I think there is a very good chance. At current prices, it is still one of the cheaper active construction counters around. 

KERJAYA has a strong outlook based on its order book - but then its order book burn rate has not been as impressive as before - something I suspect is due to projects being delayed or prolonged. Its dependency on E&O has been quite heavy recently, of which I worry about the developer side, with most of its projects being in Penang area. (too many eggs in one basket)

INTA on the other hand - has already shown and realized some of its potential - bearing in mind they have secured RM1b worth of contracts this year, and share price has moved a bit. It is still on target to secure more projects I believe, and I have a strong feeling this counter will be flying soon!