AIT vs. HLIO, NDSN, AZZ, BDC, CDRE, CR, GEF, GGG, IEX, and IR
Should you be buying Applied Industrial Technologies stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Applied Industrial Technologies include Helios Technologies (HLIO), Nordson (NDSN), AZZ (AZZ), Belden (BDC), Cadre (CDRE), Crane (CR), Greif (GEF), Graco (GGG), IDEX (IEX), and Ingersoll Rand (IR). These companies are all part of the "industrials" sector.
Applied Industrial Technologies vs. Its Competitors
Helios Technologies (NASDAQ:HLIO) and Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk, media sentiment and dividends.
Helios Technologies has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Industrial Technologies has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.
94.7% of Helios Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Helios Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Helios Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Applied Industrial Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Helios Technologies pays out 34.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Applied Industrial Technologies pays out 18.2% 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. Applied Industrial Technologies has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Applied Industrial Technologies is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Applied Industrial Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Helios Technologies. Applied Industrial Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Helios Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Applied Industrial Technologies has a net margin of 8.61% compared to Helios Technologies' net margin of 4.57%. Applied Industrial Technologies' return on equity of 21.78% beat Helios Technologies' return on equity.
Helios Technologies presently has a consensus target price of $45.67, indicating a potential downside of 13.31%. Applied Industrial Technologies has a consensus target price of $285.00, indicating a potential upside of 9.15%. Given Applied Industrial Technologies' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Applied Industrial Technologies is more favorable than Helios Technologies.
In the previous week, Applied Industrial Technologies had 5 more articles in the media than Helios Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Applied Industrial Technologies and 10 mentions for Helios Technologies. Helios Technologies' average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Applied Industrial Technologies' score of 1.43 indicating that Helios Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Applied Industrial Technologies beats Helios Technologies on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding AIT and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Applied Industrial Technologies Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:AIT) was last updated on 9/4/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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