Belden (BDC) Competitors

Belden (NYSE:BDC) and Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, dividends, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and community ranking.

Do analysts prefer BDC or AYI?

Belden currently has a consensus target price of $126.20, suggesting a potential upside of 20.20%. Acuity Brands has a consensus target price of $317.60, suggesting a potential upside of 25.72%. Given Acuity Brands' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Acuity Brands is more favorable than Belden.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Belden	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Acuity Brands	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is BDC or AYI a better dividend stock?

Belden pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Belden pays out 4.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Acuity Brands pays out 5.2% 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.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in BDC or AYI?

98.8% of Belden shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Acuity Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Belden shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Acuity Brands shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in BDC or AYI?

Acuity Brands received 255 more outperform votes than Belden when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.64% of users gave Acuity Brands an outperform vote while only 66.47% of users gave Belden an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Belden	Outperform Votes 462 66.47%	Underperform Votes 233 33.53%
Acuity Brands	Outperform Votes 717 67.64%	Underperform Votes 343 32.36%

Does the media favor BDC or AYI?

In the previous week, Belden had 11 more articles in the media than Acuity Brands. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for Belden and 15 mentions for Acuity Brands. Acuity Brands' average media sentiment score of 1.73 beat Belden's score of 1.16 indicating that Acuity Brands is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Belden	16 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Acuity Brands	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Is BDC or AYI more profitable?

Acuity Brands has a net margin of 11.11% compared to Belden's net margin of 8.06%. Belden's return on equity of 21.42% beat Acuity Brands' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Belden	8.06%	21.42%	7.90%
Acuity Brands	11.11%	19.98%	12.44%

Which has more risk & volatility, BDC or AYI?

Belden has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acuity Brands has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, BDC or AYI?

Acuity Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Belden. Acuity Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Belden, 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
Belden	$2.46B	1.70	$198.43M	$4.81	21.83
Acuity Brands	$3.96B	1.97	$422.60M	$13.19	19.15

Summary

Acuity Brands beats Belden on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.