A. O. Smith (AOS) Competitors

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) and Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) are both large-cap industrial products companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, risk, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings and media sentiment.

Do analysts rate AOS or LECO?

A. O. Smith presently has a consensus target price of $90.67, indicating a potential upside of 5.83%. Lincoln Electric has a consensus target price of $228.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.45%. Given A. O. Smith's higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe A. O. Smith is more favorable than Lincoln Electric.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
A. O. Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14
Lincoln Electric	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Which has better valuation & earnings, AOS or LECO?

A. O. Smith has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
A. O. Smith	$3.85B	3.26	$556.60M	$3.86	22.20
Lincoln Electric	$4.13B	3.12	$545.25M	$9.42	24.09

Which has more risk & volatility, AOS or LECO?

A. O. Smith has a beta of 1.27, indicating that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AOS or LECO more profitable?

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.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
A. O. Smith	14.94%	30.94%	18.06%
Lincoln Electric	13.23%	43.81%	16.50%

Does the media favor AOS or LECO?

In the previous week, Lincoln Electric had 1 more articles in the media than A. O. Smith. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Lincoln Electric and 11 mentions for A. O. Smith. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat A. O. Smith's score of 1.11 indicating that Lincoln Electric is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
A. O. Smith	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Lincoln Electric	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AOS or LECO?

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.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
A. O. Smith	Outperform Votes 459 62.28%	Underperform Votes 278 37.72%
Lincoln Electric	Outperform Votes 438 59.51%	Underperform Votes 298 40.49%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in AOS or LECO?

76.1% of A. O. Smith shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of A. O. Smith shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AOS or LECO a better dividend stock?

A. O. Smith pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. A. O. Smith pays out 33.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lincoln Electric pays out 30.1% 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.

Summary

A. O. Smith and Lincoln Electric tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.