Acuity (AYI) Competitors

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) and Donaldson (NYSE:DCI) are related companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Is AYI or DCI a better dividend stock?

Acuity pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Donaldson pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Acuity pays out 5.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Donaldson pays out 39.3% 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. Acuity has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Donaldson has increased its dividend for 38 consecutive years. Donaldson is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is AYI or DCI more profitable?

Donaldson has a net margin of 9.94% compared to Acuity's net margin of 9.63%. Donaldson's return on equity of 29.50% beat Acuity's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acuity	9.63%	20.35%	11.98%
Donaldson	9.94%	29.50%	14.79%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of AYI or DCI?

98.2% of Acuity shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Donaldson shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Acuity shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Donaldson shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, AYI or DCI?

Acuity has a beta of 1.65, indicating that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Donaldson has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, AYI or DCI?

Acuity has higher revenue and earnings than Donaldson. Acuity is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Donaldson, 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
Acuity	$3.84B	2.68	$422.60M	$12.69	26.50
Donaldson	$3.69B	2.56	$367M	$3.05	26.60

Does the media favor AYI or DCI?

In the previous week, Donaldson had 1 more articles in the media than Acuity. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Donaldson and 11 mentions for Acuity. Donaldson's average media sentiment score of 1.66 beat Acuity's score of 1.44 indicating that Donaldson is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Acuity	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Donaldson	12 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts prefer AYI or DCI?

Acuity presently has a consensus target price of $352.60, indicating a potential upside of 4.84%. Donaldson has a consensus target price of $80.33, indicating a potential downside of 0.98%. Given Acuity's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Acuity is more favorable than Donaldson.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acuity	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Donaldson	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Summary

Acuity beats Donaldson on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.