Ardagh Group (ARD) Competitors

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) and Ardagh Group (NYSE:ARD) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and risk.

Is AIN or ARD more profitable?

Albany International has a net margin of 5.25% compared to Ardagh Group's net margin of -0.08%. Albany International's return on equity of 8.87% beat Ardagh Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Albany International	5.25%	8.87%	4.88%
Ardagh Group	-0.08%	-120.19%	3.42%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AIN or ARD?

97.4% of Albany International shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.6% of Ardagh Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Albany International shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor AIN or ARD?

In the previous week, Albany International had 6 more articles in the media than Ardagh Group. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Albany International and 2 mentions for Ardagh Group. Albany International's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Ardagh Group's score of 0.42 indicating that Albany International is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Albany International	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ardagh Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts rate AIN or ARD?

Albany International currently has a consensus target price of $71.40, indicating a potential upside of 22.22%. Given Albany International's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Albany International is more favorable than Ardagh Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Albany International	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.17
Ardagh Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is AIN or ARD a better dividend stock?

Albany International pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Ardagh Group pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Albany International pays out 54.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ardagh Group pays out 41.7% 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. Albany International has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Ardagh Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, AIN or ARD?

Albany International has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ardagh Group. Ardagh Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Albany International, 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
Albany International	$1.23B	1.40	$87.62M	$2.00	29.21
Ardagh Group	$6.73B	0.07	$35M	$1.44	17.19

Which has more risk & volatility, AIN or ARD?

Albany International has a beta of 1.39, indicating that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardagh Group has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Albany International beats Ardagh Group on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.