ESCO Technologies (ESE) Competitors

ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE) and Napco Security Technologies (NASDAQ:NSSC) are both industrial products companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, community ranking, earnings, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, ESE or NSSC?

ESCO Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Napco Security Technologies. ESCO Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Napco Security Technologies, 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
ESCO Technologies	$956.03M	2.94	$92.54M	$3.81	28.63
Napco Security Technologies	$170M	9.86	$27.13M	$1.26	36.11

Does the media refer more to ESE or NSSC?

In the previous week, ESCO Technologies and ESCO Technologies both had 3 articles in the media. Napco Security Technologies' average media sentiment score of 1.43 beat ESCO Technologies' score of 1.26 indicating that Napco Security Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
ESCO Technologies	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Napco Security Technologies	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate ESE or NSSC?

ESCO Technologies presently has a consensus target price of $120.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.01%. Napco Security Technologies has a consensus target price of $41.83, indicating a potential downside of 8.06%. Given ESCO Technologies' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe ESCO Technologies is more favorable than Napco Security Technologies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESCO Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Napco Security Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ESE or NSSC?

ESCO Technologies received 138 more outperform votes than Napco Security Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.42% of users gave Napco Security Technologies an outperform vote while only 58.56% of users gave ESCO Technologies an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
ESCO Technologies	Outperform Votes 407 58.56%	Underperform Votes 288 41.44%
Napco Security Technologies	Outperform Votes 269 61.42%	Underperform Votes 169 38.58%

Is ESE or NSSC a better dividend stock?

ESCO Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Napco Security Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. ESCO Technologies pays out 8.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Napco Security Technologies pays out 31.7% 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.

Is ESE or NSSC more profitable?

Napco Security Technologies has a net margin of 25.58% compared to ESCO Technologies' net margin of 9.94%. Napco Security Technologies' return on equity of 30.50% beat ESCO Technologies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESCO Technologies	9.94%	8.83%	5.79%
Napco Security Technologies	25.58%	30.50%	25.88%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of ESE or NSSC?

95.7% of ESCO Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.1% of Napco Security Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of ESCO Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.5% of Napco Security Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, ESE or NSSC?

ESCO Technologies has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Napco Security Technologies has a beta of 1.51, indicating that its share price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Napco Security Technologies beats ESCO Technologies on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.