Matthews International (MATW) Competitors

Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) and Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, community ranking, earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Which has better valuation and earnings, MATW or HI?

Matthews International has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hillenbrand. Matthews International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hillenbrand, 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
Matthews International	$1.70B	0.41	-$59.66M	-$2.55	-8.89
Hillenbrand	$3.05B	0.50	-$211M	-$3.81	-5.72

Do insiders and institutionals believe in MATW or HI?

83.1% of Matthews International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of Hillenbrand shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% of Matthews International shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Hillenbrand shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is MATW or HI a better dividend stock?

Matthews International pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Hillenbrand pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Matthews International pays out -39.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hillenbrand pays out -23.6% 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. Matthews International has raised its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Hillenbrand has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years. Matthews International is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts recommend MATW or HI?

Matthews International presently has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 76.44%. Hillenbrand has a consensus price target of $32.00, suggesting a potential upside of 46.76%. Given Matthews International's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Matthews International is more favorable than Hillenbrand.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matthews International	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Hillenbrand	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media refer more to MATW or HI?

In the previous week, Matthews International had 2 more articles in the media than Hillenbrand. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Matthews International and 1 mentions for Hillenbrand. Matthews International's average media sentiment score of 1.76 beat Hillenbrand's score of 1.54 indicating that Matthews International is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Matthews International	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Hillenbrand	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is MATW or HI more profitable?

Matthews International has a net margin of -3.48% compared to Hillenbrand's net margin of -7.12%. Hillenbrand's return on equity of 15.00% beat Matthews International's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matthews International	-3.48%	12.88%	3.25%
Hillenbrand	-7.12%	15.00%	4.26%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MATW or HI?

Hillenbrand received 18 more outperform votes than Matthews International when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.53% of users gave Matthews International an outperform vote while only 56.31% of users gave Hillenbrand an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Matthews International	Outperform Votes 263 63.53%	Underperform Votes 151 36.47%
Hillenbrand	Outperform Votes 281 56.31%	Underperform Votes 218 43.69%

Which has more risk and volatility, MATW or HI?

Matthews International has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hillenbrand has a beta of 1.47, suggesting that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Matthews International beats Hillenbrand on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.