H&E Equipment Services (HEES) Competitors

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) and Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Which has more volatility and risk, HEES or AIT?

H&E Equipment Services has a beta of 1.74, meaning that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Industrial Technologies has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to HEES or AIT?

In the previous week, Applied Industrial Technologies had 4 more articles in the media than H&E Equipment Services. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Applied Industrial Technologies and 21 mentions for H&E Equipment Services. Applied Industrial Technologies' average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat H&E Equipment Services' score of 0.72 indicating that Applied Industrial Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
H&E Equipment Services	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Applied Industrial Technologies	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is HEES or AIT more profitable?

H&E Equipment Services has a net margin of 9.47% compared to Applied Industrial Technologies' net margin of 8.62%. H&E Equipment Services' return on equity of 25.46% beat Applied Industrial Technologies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
H&E Equipment Services	9.47%	25.46%	5.16%
Applied Industrial Technologies	8.62%	22.37%	13.03%

Do analysts prefer HEES or AIT?

H&E Equipment Services presently has a consensus target price of $71.33, suggesting a potential downside of 20.89%. Applied Industrial Technologies has a consensus target price of $287.14, suggesting a potential upside of 25.76%. Given Applied Industrial Technologies' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Applied Industrial Technologies is more favorable than H&E Equipment Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
H&E Equipment Services	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Applied Industrial Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of HEES or AIT?

84.1% of H&E Equipment Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 12.5% of H&E Equipment Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor HEES or AIT?

H&E Equipment Services received 1 more outperform votes than Applied Industrial Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.51% of users gave Applied Industrial Technologies an outperform vote while only 56.33% of users gave H&E Equipment Services an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
H&E Equipment Services	Outperform Votes 267 56.33%	Underperform Votes 207 43.67%
Applied Industrial Technologies	Outperform Votes 266 59.51%	Underperform Votes 181 40.49%

Is HEES or AIT a better dividend stock?

H&E Equipment Services pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Applied Industrial Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. H&E Equipment Services pays out 44.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Applied Industrial Technologies pays out 18.6% 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. Applied Industrial Technologies has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, HEES or AIT?

Applied Industrial Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than H&E Equipment Services. Applied Industrial Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than H&E Equipment Services, 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
H&E Equipment Services	$1.46B	2.26	$169.29M	$2.49	36.21
Applied Industrial Technologies	$4.48B	1.96	$385.76M	$9.87	23.13

Summary

Applied Industrial Technologies beats H&E Equipment Services on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.