Lincoln Electric (LECO) Competitors

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 businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, media sentiment, risk, earnings and valuation.

Do analysts prefer AOS or LECO?

A. O. Smith currently has a consensus price target of $90.67, suggesting a potential upside of 7.54%. Lincoln Electric has a consensus price target of $228.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.27%. Given Lincoln Electric's higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly 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)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.22

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in AOS or LECO?

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, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is AOS or LECO more profitable?

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.

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%

Which has more risk and volatility, AOS or LECO?

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

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. A. O. Smith has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Lincoln Electric has increased 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.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, 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	$3.87B	3.21	$556.60M	$3.86	21.84
Lincoln Electric	$4.19B	3.03	$545.25M	$9.42	23.67

Does the media refer more to AOS or LECO?

In the previous week, A. O. Smith had 3 more articles in the media than Lincoln Electric. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for A. O. Smith and 16 mentions for Lincoln Electric. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat A. O. Smith's score of 0.68 indicating that A. O. Smith is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
A. O. Smith	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Lincoln Electric	6 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in 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%

Summary

A. O. Smith beats Lincoln Electric on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.