LECO vs. AOS, AMCR, PNR, GGG, SWK, RRX, CNHI, ALLE, TTEK, and NDSN
Should you be buying Lincoln Electric stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Lincoln Electric include A. O. Smith (AOS), Amcor (AMCR), Pentair (PNR), Graco (GGG), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), Regal Rexnord (RRX), CNH Industrial (CNHI), Allegion (ALLE), Tetra Tech (TTEK), and Nordson (NDSN). These companies are all part of the "industrial products" sector.
Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) and A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) are both large-cap industrial products companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, risk, valuation, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.
Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus price target of $228.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.33%. A. O. Smith has a consensus price target of $90.67, suggesting a potential upside of 6.39%. Given A. O. Smith's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe A. O. Smith is more favorable than Lincoln Electric.
A. O. Smith received 21 more outperform votes than Lincoln Electric when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.28% of users gave A. O. Smith an outperform vote while only 59.51% of users gave Lincoln Electric an outperform vote.
A. O. Smith has a net margin of 14.94% compared to Lincoln Electric's net margin of 13.23%. Lincoln Electric's return on equity of 43.81% beat A. O. Smith's return on equity.
79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.1% of A. O. Smith shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of A. O. Smith shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, A. O. Smith had 3 more articles in the media than Lincoln Electric. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for A. O. Smith and 5 mentions for Lincoln Electric. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat A. O. Smith's score of 1.02 indicating that Lincoln Electric is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. A. O. Smith pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Lincoln Electric pays out 30.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. A. O. Smith pays out 33.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.
Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, A. O. Smith has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.
A. O. Smith has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Lincoln Electric. A. O. Smith is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lincoln Electric, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
A. O. Smith beats Lincoln Electric on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding LECO and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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