Astec Industries (ASTE) Competitors

Columbus McKinnon (NASDAQ:CMCO) and Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, media sentiment, dividends, valuation, community ranking, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Is CMCO or ASTE more profitable?

Columbus McKinnon has a net margin of 4.60% compared to Columbus McKinnon's net margin of 1.91%. Astec Industries' return on equity of 9.65% beat Columbus McKinnon's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbus McKinnon	4.60%	9.65%	4.49%
Astec Industries	1.91%	7.44%	4.51%

Do analysts rate CMCO or ASTE?

Columbus McKinnon currently has a consensus price target of $50.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.61%. Astec Industries has a consensus price target of $43.50, suggesting a potential upside of 35.18%. Given Columbus McKinnon's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Astec Industries is more favorable than Columbus McKinnon.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbus McKinnon	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Astec Industries	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is CMCO or ASTE a better dividend stock?

Columbus McKinnon pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Astec Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Columbus McKinnon pays out 17.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Astec Industries pays out 47.7% 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. Columbus McKinnon has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Astec Industries has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Astec Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, CMCO or ASTE?

Columbus McKinnon has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Astec Industries has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor CMCO or ASTE?

In the previous week, Columbus McKinnon had 12 more articles in the media than Astec Industries. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Columbus McKinnon and 8 mentions for Astec Industries. Columbus McKinnon's average media sentiment score of 0.68 beat Astec Industries' score of 0.20 indicating that Astec Industries is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Columbus McKinnon	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Astec Industries	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, CMCO or ASTE?

Columbus McKinnon has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Astec Industries. Columbus McKinnon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Astec Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbus McKinnon	$1.01B	1.12	$48.43M	$1.62	24.38
Astec Industries	$1.34B	0.55	$33.50M	$1.09	29.52

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of CMCO or ASTE?

96.0% of Columbus McKinnon shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of Astec Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Columbus McKinnon shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Astec Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CMCO or ASTE?

Astec Industries received 117 more outperform votes than Columbus McKinnon when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.16% of users gave Astec Industries an outperform vote while only 61.34% of users gave Columbus McKinnon an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Columbus McKinnon	Outperform Votes 284 61.34%	Underperform Votes 179 38.66%
Astec Industries	Outperform Votes 401 64.16%	Underperform Votes 224 35.84%

Summary

Columbus McKinnon beats Astec Industries on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.