ESAB (ESAB) Competitors

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

Do insiders and institutionals believe in ESAB or LECO?

91.1% of ESAB shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of ESAB shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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%

Do analysts recommend ESAB or LECO?

ESAB currently has a consensus target price of $141.44, indicating a potential upside of 29.31%. Lincoln Electric has a consensus target price of $239.33, indicating a potential upside of 2.16%. Given ESAB's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Lincoln Electric	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has more volatility and risk, ESAB or LECO?

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

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, ESAB or LECO?

Lincoln Electric has higher revenue and earnings than ESAB. ESAB is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lincoln Electric, 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	2.42	$264.84M	$4.18	26.17
Lincoln Electric	$4.10B	3.15	$466.11M	$8.90	26.32

Does the media prefer ESAB or LECO?

In the previous week, Lincoln Electric had 21 more articles in the media than ESAB. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Lincoln Electric and 6 mentions for ESAB. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat ESAB's score of 1.06 indicating that Lincoln Electric is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
ESAB	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Lincoln Electric	17 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is ESAB or LECO a better dividend stock?

ESAB pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. 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 raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Lincoln Electric has raised 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.

Summary

Lincoln Electric beats ESAB on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.