AIT vs. WSO, WCC, BECN, AL, GATX, MSM, RUSHA, HEES, DXPE, and MRC
Should you be buying Applied Industrial Technologies stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Applied Industrial Technologies include Watsco (WSO), WESCO International (WCC), Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN), Air Lease (AL), GATX (GATX), MSC Industrial Direct (MSM), Rush Enterprises (RUSHA), H&E Equipment Services (HEES), DXP Enterprises (DXPE), and MRC Global (MRC). These companies are all part of the "trading companies & distributors" industry.
Applied Industrial Technologies vs.
Watsco (NYSE:WSO) and Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) are both construction companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, media sentiment and dividends.
89.7% of Watsco shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.5% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 12.8% of Watsco shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Watsco received 68 more outperform votes than Applied Industrial Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.60% of users gave Applied Industrial Technologies an outperform vote while only 55.01% of users gave Watsco an outperform vote.
Watsco currently has a consensus target price of $480.83, indicating a potential upside of 2.82%. Applied Industrial Technologies has a consensus target price of $285.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.37%. Given Applied Industrial Technologies' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Applied Industrial Technologies is more favorable than Watsco.
Watsco has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% 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.
Watsco has higher revenue and earnings than Applied Industrial Technologies. Applied Industrial Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Watsco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Applied Industrial Technologies has a net margin of 8.62% compared to Watsco's net margin of 7.04%. Applied Industrial Technologies' return on equity of 22.37% beat Watsco's return on equity.
Watsco pays an annual dividend of $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Applied Industrial Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Watsco pays out 92.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Applied Industrial Technologies pays out 18.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Watsco has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Applied Industrial Technologies has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years.
In the previous week, Watsco had 6 more articles in the media than Applied Industrial Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Watsco and 19 mentions for Applied Industrial Technologies. Applied Industrial Technologies' average media sentiment score of 1.48 beat Watsco's score of 0.84 indicating that Applied Industrial Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Summary
Applied Industrial Technologies beats Watsco on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Applied Industrial Technologies News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for AIT and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} 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
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NYSE:AIT) was last updated on 5/21/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
Buy AIT Stock Free AIT Stock Alerts