ESAB (ESAB) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in LECO or ESAB?

79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.1% of ESAB shares are held by institutional investors. 2.4% of Lincoln Electric shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.3% of ESAB shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer LECO or ESAB?

Lincoln Electric currently has a consensus target price of $239.33, suggesting a potential downside of 1.08%. ESAB has a consensus target price of $141.44, suggesting a potential upside of 18.04%. Given ESAB's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ESAB is more favorable than Lincoln Electric.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lincoln Electric	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
ESAB	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Is LECO or ESAB 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
Lincoln Electric	12.27%	39.79%	14.74%
ESAB	9.36%	16.32%	7.54%

Which has more risk & volatility, LECO or ESAB?

Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ESAB has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is LECO or ESAB a better dividend stock?

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

Does the media favor LECO or ESAB?

In the previous week, Lincoln Electric had 10 more articles in the media than ESAB. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Lincoln Electric and 4 mentions for ESAB. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 0.59 beat ESAB's score of 0.46 indicating that Lincoln Electric is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lincoln Electric	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ESAB	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has higher valuation and earnings, LECO or ESAB?

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
Lincoln Electric	$4.01B	3.33	$466.11M	$8.90	27.19
ESAB	$2.74B	2.66	$264.84M	$4.18	28.67

Summary

Lincoln Electric beats ESAB on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.