General Cable (BGC) Competitors

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) and General Cable (NYSE:BGC) are both mid-cap electrical components & equipment companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Is AYI or BGC more profitable?

Acuity has a net margin of 9.63% compared to General Cable's net margin of 1.74%. General Cable's return on equity of 48.53% beat Acuity's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acuity	9.63%	20.35%	11.98%
General Cable	1.74%	48.53%	10.49%

Is AYI or BGC a better dividend stock?

Acuity pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. General Cable pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Acuity pays out 5.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. General Cable pays out 57.1% 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 General Cable has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Which has more risk and volatility, AYI or BGC?

Acuity has a beta of 1.64, meaning that its stock price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, General Cable has a beta of 1.51, meaning that its stock price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to AYI or BGC?

In the previous week, Acuity had 7 more articles in the media than General Cable. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Acuity and 0 mentions for General Cable. Acuity's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat General Cable's score of 0.00 indicating that Acuity is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Acuity	Positive
General Cable	Neutral

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in AYI or BGC?

98.2% of Acuity shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.1% of General Cable shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Acuity shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 47.9% of General Cable 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.

Do analysts rate AYI or BGC?

Acuity presently has a consensus price target of $340.60, suggesting a potential upside of 11.72%. General Cable has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 47.68%. Given General Cable's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe General Cable is more favorable than Acuity.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acuity	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
General Cable	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, AYI or BGC?

Acuity has higher revenue and earnings than General Cable. Acuity is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than General Cable, 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	2.43	$422.60M	$12.69	24.02
General Cable	$2.03B	2.31	$36.26M	$0.07	135.43

Summary

Acuity beats General Cable on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.