Lincoln Electric (LECO) Competitors

Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR) and Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, community ranking, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Is IR or LECO a better dividend stock?

Ingersoll Rand pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Ingersoll Rand pays out 4.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lincoln Electric pays out 37.0% 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. Lincoln Electric has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years. Lincoln Electric is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate IR or LECO?

Ingersoll Rand presently has a consensus target price of $98.91, indicating a potential upside of 16.73%. Lincoln Electric has a consensus target price of $206.40, indicating a potential upside of 1.15%. Given Ingersoll Rand's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ingersoll Rand is more favorable than Lincoln Electric.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ingersoll Rand	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58
Lincoln Electric	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in IR or LECO?

Ingersoll Rand received 284 more outperform votes than Lincoln Electric when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.74% of users gave Ingersoll Rand an outperform vote while only 59.40% of users gave Lincoln Electric an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ingersoll Rand	Outperform Votes 739 61.74%	Underperform Votes 458 38.26%
Lincoln Electric	Outperform Votes 455 59.40%	Underperform Votes 311 40.60%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of IR or LECO?

95.3% of Ingersoll Rand shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ingersoll Rand shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, IR or LECO?

Ingersoll Rand has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor IR or LECO?

In the previous week, Lincoln Electric had 3 more articles in the media than Ingersoll Rand. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Lincoln Electric and 2 mentions for Ingersoll Rand. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 1.63 beat Ingersoll Rand's score of 1.09 indicating that Lincoln Electric is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ingersoll Rand	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Lincoln Electric	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is IR or LECO more profitable?

Lincoln Electric has a net margin of 11.63% compared to Ingersoll Rand's net margin of 11.59%. Lincoln Electric's return on equity of 40.19% beat Ingersoll Rand's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ingersoll Rand	11.59%	12.78%	7.45%
Lincoln Electric	11.63%	40.19%	15.20%

Which has better valuation and earnings, IR or LECO?

Ingersoll Rand has higher revenue and earnings than Lincoln Electric. Lincoln Electric is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ingersoll Rand, 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
Ingersoll Rand	$7.28B	4.69	$838.60M	$2.02	41.95
Lincoln Electric	$4.03B	2.83	$466.11M	$8.11	25.16

Summary

Ingersoll Rand beats Lincoln Electric on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.