Danaher (DHR) Competitors

3M (NYSE:MMM) and Danaher (NYSE:DHR) are both large-cap multi-sector conglomerates companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, media sentiment, community ranking, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MMM or DHR?

Danaher received 152 more outperform votes than 3M when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.48% of users gave Danaher an outperform vote while only 59.32% of users gave 3M an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
3M	Outperform Votes 913 59.32%	Underperform Votes 626 40.68%
Danaher	Outperform Votes 1065 74.48%	Underperform Votes 365 25.52%

Is MMM or DHR a better dividend stock?

3M pays an annual dividend of $2.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Danaher pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. 3M pays out 36.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Danaher pays out 24.9% 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. 3M has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Danaher has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Do analysts prefer MMM or DHR?

3M currently has a consensus target price of $152.08, suggesting a potential downside of 1.29%. Danaher has a consensus target price of $263.24, suggesting a potential upside of 33.16%. Given Danaher's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Danaher is more favorable than 3M.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
3M	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
Danaher	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MMM or DHR?

65.3% of 3M shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.1% of Danaher shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of 3M shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of Danaher shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, MMM or DHR?

3M has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Danaher has a beta of 0.8, suggesting that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MMM or DHR more profitable?

Danaher has a net margin of 16.33% compared to 3M's net margin of 15.71%. 3M's return on equity of 100.77% beat Danaher's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
3M	15.71%	100.77%	9.84%
Danaher	16.33%	10.82%	6.90%

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, MMM or DHR?

3M has higher revenue and earnings than Danaher. 3M is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Danaher, 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
3M	$24.51B	3.38	$4.17B	$7.92	19.45
Danaher	$23.82B	5.94	$3.90B	$5.15	38.38

Does the media prefer MMM or DHR?

In the previous week, Danaher had 4 more articles in the media than 3M. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for Danaher and 34 mentions for 3M. 3M's average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Danaher's score of 1.30 indicating that 3M is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
3M	30 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Danaher	28 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Danaher beats 3M on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.