Powell Industries (POWL) Competitors

Powell Industries (NASDAQ:POWL) and Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and community ranking.

Do analysts prefer POWL or AYI?

Powell Industries presently has a consensus target price of $312.00, suggesting a potential upside of 70.39%. Acuity Brands has a consensus target price of $317.60, suggesting a potential upside of 30.29%. Given Powell Industries' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Powell Industries is more favorable than Acuity Brands.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Powell Industries	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.50
Acuity Brands	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has better earnings & valuation, POWL or AYI?

Acuity Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Powell Industries. Powell Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acuity Brands, 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
Powell Industries	$1.06B	2.08	$149.85M	$13.17	13.90
Acuity Brands	$3.96B	1.90	$422.60M	$13.19	18.48

Is POWL or AYI more profitable?

Powell Industries has a net margin of 15.15% compared to Acuity Brands' net margin of 11.11%. Powell Industries' return on equity of 35.48% beat Acuity Brands' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Powell Industries	15.15%	35.48%	18.04%
Acuity Brands	11.11%	19.98%	12.44%

Which has more volatility and risk, POWL or AYI?

Powell Industries has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acuity Brands has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in POWL or AYI?

Acuity Brands received 492 more outperform votes than Powell Industries when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.64% of users gave Acuity Brands an outperform vote while only 60.98% of users gave Powell Industries an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Powell Industries	Outperform Votes 225 60.98%	Underperform Votes 144 39.02%
Acuity Brands	Outperform Votes 717 67.64%	Underperform Votes 343 32.36%

Is POWL or AYI a better dividend stock?

Powell Industries pays an annual dividend of $1.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Acuity Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Powell Industries pays out 8.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Acuity Brands pays out 5.2% 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.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of POWL or AYI?

89.8% of Powell Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Acuity Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Powell Industries shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Acuity Brands shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to POWL or AYI?

In the previous week, Powell Industries had 4 more articles in the media than Acuity Brands. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for Powell Industries and 13 mentions for Acuity Brands. Acuity Brands' average media sentiment score of 1.75 beat Powell Industries' score of 1.15 indicating that Acuity Brands is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Powell Industries	11 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Acuity Brands	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Acuity Brands beats Powell Industries on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.