ESAB (ESAB) Competitors

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) and Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Do analysts prefer ESAB or LECO?

ESAB presently has a consensus target price of $140.38, indicating a potential upside of 20.60%. Lincoln Electric has a consensus target price of $231.40, indicating a potential downside of 5.16%. Given ESAB's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe ESAB is more favorable than Lincoln Electric.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESAB	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Lincoln Electric	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Which has higher valuation and earnings, ESAB or LECO?

Lincoln Electric has higher revenue and earnings than ESAB. Lincoln Electric is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ESAB, 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
ESAB	$2.74B	2.58	$264.84M	$4.18	27.85
Lincoln Electric	$4.01B	3.36	$466.11M	$8.90	27.41

Does the media favor ESAB or LECO?

In the previous week, Lincoln Electric had 5 more articles in the media than ESAB. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Lincoln Electric and 11 mentions for ESAB. ESAB's average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat Lincoln Electric's score of 1.42 indicating that ESAB is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
ESAB	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Lincoln Electric	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is ESAB or LECO more profitable?

Lincoln Electric has a net margin of 12.27% compared to ESAB's net margin of 9.36%. Lincoln Electric's return on equity of 39.79% beat ESAB's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESAB	9.36%	16.32%	7.54%
Lincoln Electric	12.27%	39.79%	14.74%

Is ESAB or LECO a better dividend stock?

ESAB pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. ESAB pays out 9.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lincoln Electric pays out 33.7% 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. ESAB has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Lincoln Electric has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years. Lincoln Electric is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, ESAB or LECO?

ESAB has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in ESAB or LECO?

91.1% of ESAB shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are held by institutional investors. 7.3% of ESAB shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Lincoln Electric 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.

Summary

Lincoln Electric beats ESAB on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.