ESCO Technologies (ESE) Competitors

ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE) and Pentair (NYSE:PNR) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, valuation, risk, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in ESE or PNR?

95.7% of ESCO Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Pentair shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of ESCO Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Pentair shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is ESE or PNR more profitable?

Pentair has a net margin of 15.32% compared to ESCO Technologies' net margin of 10.44%. Pentair's return on equity of 20.94% beat ESCO Technologies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESCO Technologies	10.44%	9.91%	6.63%
Pentair	15.32%	20.94%	11.05%

Is ESE or PNR a better dividend stock?

ESCO Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Pentair pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. ESCO Technologies pays out 7.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pentair pays out 26.7% 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.

Which has better valuation & earnings, ESE or PNR?

Pentair has higher revenue and earnings than ESCO Technologies. Pentair is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ESCO Technologies, 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
ESCO Technologies	$1.06B	4.03	$101.88M	$4.26	38.66
Pentair	$4.08B	3.60	$625.40M	$3.74	23.85

Does the media refer more to ESE or PNR?

In the previous week, Pentair had 8 more articles in the media than ESCO Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Pentair and 8 mentions for ESCO Technologies. Pentair's average media sentiment score of 1.60 beat ESCO Technologies' score of 1.33 indicating that Pentair is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
ESCO Technologies	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Pentair	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts recommend ESE or PNR?

ESCO Technologies currently has a consensus target price of $182.50, indicating a potential upside of 10.80%. Pentair has a consensus target price of $112.93, indicating a potential upside of 26.62%. Given Pentair's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Pentair is more favorable than ESCO Technologies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESCO Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Pentair	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ESE or PNR?

Pentair received 237 more outperform votes than ESCO Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 58.99% of users gave ESCO Technologies an outperform vote while only 57.33% of users gave Pentair an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
ESCO Technologies	Outperform Votes 420 58.99%	Underperform Votes 292 41.01%
Pentair	Outperform Votes 657 57.33%	Underperform Votes 489 42.67%

Which has more volatility & risk, ESE or PNR?

ESCO Technologies has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pentair has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Pentair beats ESCO Technologies on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.