Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) Competitors

Smiths Group (LON:SMIN) and Spirax-Sarco Engineering (LON:SPX) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Which has more risk and volatility, SMIN or SPX?

Smiths Group has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Spirax-Sarco Engineering has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better valuation and earnings, SMIN or SPX?

Smiths Group has higher revenue and earnings than Spirax-Sarco Engineering. Smiths Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Spirax-Sarco Engineering, 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
Smiths Group	£3.23B	2.38	£245.01M	£0.89	2,655.72
Spirax-Sarco Engineering	£1.66B	3.09	£192.00M	£2.20	3,159.93

Do institutionals and insiders believe in SMIN or SPX?

83.3% of Smiths Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.6% of Spirax-Sarco Engineering shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Smiths Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Spirax-Sarco Engineering shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor SMIN or SPX?

In the previous week, Smiths Group had 2 more articles in the media than Spirax-Sarco Engineering. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Smiths Group and 1 mentions for Spirax-Sarco Engineering. Spirax-Sarco Engineering's average media sentiment score of 1.52 beat Smiths Group's score of 0.37 indicating that Spirax-Sarco Engineering is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Smiths Group	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Spirax-Sarco Engineering	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is SMIN or SPX more profitable?

Spirax-Sarco Engineering has a net margin of 11.57% compared to Smiths Group's net margin of 7.98%. Spirax-Sarco Engineering's return on equity of 16.58% beat Smiths Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smiths Group	7.98%	11.54%	6.47%
Spirax-Sarco Engineering	11.57%	16.58%	6.93%

Is SMIN or SPX a better dividend stock?

Smiths Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Spirax-Sarco Engineering pays an annual dividend of GBX 1.65 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. Smiths Group pays out 49.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Spirax-Sarco Engineering pays out 75.0% 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.

Do analysts rate SMIN or SPX?

Spirax-Sarco Engineering has a consensus price target of GBX 7,983.33, suggesting a potential upside of 14.79%. Given Spirax-Sarco Engineering's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Spirax-Sarco Engineering is more favorable than Smiths Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smiths Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Spirax-Sarco Engineering	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Summary

Spirax-Sarco Engineering beats Smiths Group on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.