Lincoln Electric (LECO) Competitors

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) and Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, media sentiment, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Is LECO or FELE a better dividend stock?

Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Franklin Electric pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Lincoln Electric pays out 33.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Franklin Electric pays out 27.4% 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 and Franklin Electric has raised its dividend for 33 consecutive years.

Do analysts prefer LECO or FELE?

Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus price target of $231.40, suggesting a potential downside of 4.35%. Franklin Electric has a consensus price target of $107.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.71%. Given Franklin Electric's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Franklin Electric is more favorable than Lincoln Electric.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lincoln Electric	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Franklin Electric	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Which has more volatility & risk, LECO or FELE?

Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.21, meaning that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Franklin Electric has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is LECO or FELE more profitable?

Lincoln Electric has a net margin of 12.27% compared to Franklin Electric's net margin of 8.71%. Lincoln Electric's return on equity of 39.79% beat Franklin Electric's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lincoln Electric	12.27%	39.79%	14.74%
Franklin Electric	8.71%	14.05%	9.47%

Which has better earnings and valuation, LECO or FELE?

Lincoln Electric has higher revenue and earnings than Franklin Electric. Franklin Electric 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
Lincoln Electric	$4.01B	3.33	$466.11M	$8.90	27.18
Franklin Electric	$2.02B	2.07	$180.31M	$3.87	24.32

Do insiders & institutionals believe in LECO or FELE?

79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.0% of Franklin Electric shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Franklin Electric shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer LECO or FELE?

In the previous week, Lincoln Electric had 5 more articles in the media than Franklin Electric. MarketBeat recorded 32 mentions for Lincoln Electric and 27 mentions for Franklin Electric. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 0.84 beat Franklin Electric's score of 0.46 indicating that Lincoln Electric is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lincoln Electric	13 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Franklin Electric	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Lincoln Electric beats Franklin Electric on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.