L.B. Foster (FSTR) Competitors

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) and Hyster-Yale Materials Handling (NYSE:HY) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, community ranking, dividends and risk.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, FSTR or HY?

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling has higher revenue and earnings than L.B. Foster. L.B. Foster is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, 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
L.B. Foster	$504.24M	0.41	$1.46M	$3.31	5.95
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	$4.16B	0.18	$125.90M	$5.61	7.38

Which has more volatility & risk, FSTR or HY?

L.B. Foster has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling has a beta of 1.51, suggesting that its stock price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of FSTR or HY?

80.6% of L.B. Foster shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.5% of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling shares are held by institutional investors. 4.7% of L.B. Foster shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 33.9% of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling 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.

Is FSTR or HY more profitable?

L.B. Foster has a net margin of 7.96% compared to Hyster-Yale Materials Handling's net margin of 3.68%. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling's return on equity of 34.77% beat L.B. Foster's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
L.B. Foster	7.96%	6.01%	2.82%
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	3.68%	34.77%	7.41%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FSTR or HY?

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling received 13 more outperform votes than L.B. Foster when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 56.86% of users gave L.B. Foster an outperform vote while only 56.71% of users gave Hyster-Yale Materials Handling an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
L.B. Foster	Outperform Votes 228 56.86%	Underperform Votes 173 43.14%
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	Outperform Votes 241 56.71%	Underperform Votes 184 43.29%

Does the media favor FSTR or HY?

In the previous week, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling had 2 more articles in the media than L.B. Foster. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Hyster-Yale Materials Handling and 1 mentions for L.B. Foster. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling's average media sentiment score of 1.72 beat L.B. Foster's score of 0.72 indicating that Hyster-Yale Materials Handling is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
L.B. Foster	Positive
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	Very Positive

Do analysts prefer FSTR or HY?

L.B. Foster currently has a consensus price target of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.84%. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling has a consensus price target of $70.00, suggesting a potential upside of 69.08%. Given Hyster-Yale Materials Handling's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hyster-Yale Materials Handling is more favorable than L.B. Foster.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
L.B. Foster	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is FSTR or HY a better dividend stock?

L.B. Foster pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. L.B. Foster pays out 4.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling pays out 25.7% 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. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling beats L.B. Foster on 14 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.