Rush Enterprises (RUSHA) Competitors

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) and Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AIT or RUSHA?

Rush Enterprises received 65 more outperform votes than Applied Industrial Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.86% of users gave Rush Enterprises an outperform vote while only 59.51% of users gave Applied Industrial Technologies an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Applied Industrial Technologies	Outperform Votes 266 59.51%	Underperform Votes 181 40.49%
Rush Enterprises	Outperform Votes 331 59.86%	Underperform Votes 222 40.14%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in AIT or RUSHA?

93.5% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.4% of Rush Enterprises shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.3% of Rush Enterprises shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, AIT or RUSHA?

Applied Industrial Technologies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Rush Enterprises. Rush Enterprises is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Applied Industrial Technologies, 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
Applied Industrial Technologies	$4.48B	1.96	$385.76M	$9.87	23.17
Rush Enterprises	$7.80B	0.51	$347.05M	$3.58	14.16

Is AIT or RUSHA more profitable?

Applied Industrial Technologies has a net margin of 8.62% compared to Rush Enterprises' net margin of 3.90%. Applied Industrial Technologies' return on equity of 22.37% beat Rush Enterprises' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Applied Industrial Technologies	8.62%	22.37%	13.03%
Rush Enterprises	3.90%	14.76%	6.61%

Which has more volatility and risk, AIT or RUSHA?

Applied Industrial Technologies has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rush Enterprises has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend AIT or RUSHA?

Applied Industrial Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $287.14, suggesting a potential upside of 25.58%. Rush Enterprises has a consensus price target of $69.00, suggesting a potential upside of 36.09%. Given Rush Enterprises' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Rush Enterprises is more favorable than Applied Industrial Technologies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Applied Industrial Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88
Rush Enterprises	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media prefer AIT or RUSHA?

In the previous week, Applied Industrial Technologies had 15 more articles in the media than Rush Enterprises. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Applied Industrial Technologies and 10 mentions for Rush Enterprises. Applied Industrial Technologies' average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat Rush Enterprises' score of 1.03 indicating that Applied Industrial Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Applied Industrial Technologies	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Rush Enterprises	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AIT or RUSHA a better dividend stock?

Applied Industrial Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Rush Enterprises pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Applied Industrial Technologies pays out 18.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Rush Enterprises pays out 20.1% 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. Applied Industrial Technologies has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Summary

Applied Industrial Technologies beats Rush Enterprises on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.