LECO vs. AOS, SWK, NDSN, PNR, GGG, CNHI, ALLE, RRX, CCK, and ATR
Should you be buying Lincoln Electric stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Lincoln Electric include A. O. Smith (AOS), Stanley Black & Decker (SWK), Nordson (NDSN), Pentair (PNR), Graco (GGG), CNH Industrial (CNHI), Allegion (ALLE), Regal Rexnord (RRX), Crown (CCK), and AptarGroup (ATR). These companies are all part of the "industrial products" sector.
A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) and Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) are both large-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment and valuation.
76.1% of A. O. Smith shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of A. O. Smith shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Lincoln Electric had 10 more articles in the media than A. O. Smith. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Lincoln Electric and 7 mentions for A. O. Smith. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 1.68 beat A. O. Smith's score of 0.23 indicating that A. O. Smith is being referred to more favorably in the media.
A. O. Smith has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.
A. O. Smith currently has a consensus target price of $90.67, suggesting a potential upside of 8.32%. Lincoln Electric has a consensus target price of $225.29, suggesting a potential upside of 11.38%. Given A. O. Smith's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Lincoln Electric is more favorable than A. O. Smith.
A. O. Smith received 18 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 59.68% of users gave Lincoln Electric an outperform vote.
A. O. Smith has a net margin of 14.94% compared to A. O. Smith's net margin of 13.23%. A. O. Smith's return on equity of 43.81% beat Lincoln Electric's return on equity.
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 1.4%. 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. A. O. Smith has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Lincoln Electric has raised its dividend for 29 consecutive years. A. O. Smith is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
A. O. Smith has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Lincoln Electric. Lincoln Electric is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than A. O. Smith, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
A. O. Smith beats Lincoln Electric on 12 of the 21 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.
Skip ChartThis 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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