AOS vs. LECO, AGCO, CCK, RRX, ALLE, PNR, GGG, PKG, NDSN, and SWK
Should you be buying A. O. Smith stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of A. O. Smith include Lincoln Electric (LECO), AGCO (AGCO), Crown (CCK), Regal Rexnord (RRX), Allegion (ALLE), Pentair (PNR), Graco (GGG), Packaging Co. of America (PKG), Nordson (NDSN), and Stanley Black & Decker (SWK). These companies are all part of the "industrial products" sector.
A. O. Smith vs.
Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) and A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) are both industrial products companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, dividends, community ranking, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.
A. O. Smith received 25 more outperform votes than Lincoln Electric when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.28% of users gave A. O. Smith an outperform vote while only 60.52% of users gave Lincoln Electric an outperform vote.
Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus price target of $164.25, suggesting a potential upside of 2.16%. A. O. Smith has a consensus price target of $64.00, suggesting a potential downside of 4.11%. Given Lincoln Electric's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Lincoln Electric is more favorable than A. O. Smith.
Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, A. O. Smith has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $2.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. A. O. Smith pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Lincoln Electric pays out 31.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. A. O. Smith pays out 80.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Lincoln Electric has raised its dividend for 27 consecutive years and A. O. Smith has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years. A. O. Smith is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
73.3% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.0% of A. O. Smith shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.2% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of A. O. Smith shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Lincoln Electric has higher revenue and earnings than A. O. Smith. Lincoln Electric is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than A. O. Smith, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Lincoln Electric has a net margin of 12.56% compared to A. O. Smith's net margin of 6.28%. Lincoln Electric's return on equity of 52.02% beat A. O. Smith's return on equity.
In the previous week, Lincoln Electric and Lincoln Electric both had 10 articles in the media. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 0.86 beat A. O. Smith's score of 0.86 indicating that Lincoln Electric is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Lincoln Electric beats A. O. Smith on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding AOS 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.
A. O. Smith Competitors List
