Lincoln Electric (LECO) Competitors

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

Is LECO or IR 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
Lincoln Electric	11.63%	40.19%	15.20%
Ingersoll Rand	11.59%	12.78%	7.45%

Does the media refer more to LECO or IR?

In the previous week, Lincoln Electric had 5 more articles in the media than Ingersoll Rand. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Lincoln Electric and 15 mentions for Ingersoll Rand. Ingersoll Rand's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Lincoln Electric's score of 1.10 indicating that Ingersoll Rand is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lincoln Electric	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ingersoll Rand	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better valuation & earnings, LECO or IR?

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
Lincoln Electric	$4.03B	2.71	$466.11M	$8.11	24.14
Ingersoll Rand	$7.28B	4.62	$838.60M	$2.02	41.27

Is LECO or IR a better dividend stock?

Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Ingersoll Rand pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Lincoln Electric pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ingersoll Rand pays out 4.0% 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LECO or IR?

Ingersoll Rand received 285 more outperform votes than Lincoln Electric when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.74% of users gave Ingersoll Rand an outperform vote while only 59.35% of users gave Lincoln Electric an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Lincoln Electric	Outperform Votes 454 59.35%	Underperform Votes 311 40.65%
Ingersoll Rand	Outperform Votes 739 61.74%	Underperform Votes 458 38.26%

Do analysts prefer LECO or IR?

Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus target price of $216.17, suggesting a potential upside of 10.42%. Ingersoll Rand has a consensus target price of $98.91, suggesting a potential upside of 18.64%. 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
Lincoln Electric	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Ingersoll Rand	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58

Which has more risk and volatility, LECO or IR?

Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ingersoll Rand has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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

79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.3% of Ingersoll Rand shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Ingersoll Rand shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ingersoll Rand beats Lincoln Electric on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.