ESCO Technologies (ESE) Competitors

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) and ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE) are both industrial products companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, dividends and community ranking.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of LECO or ESE?

79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.7% of ESCO Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of ESCO Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer LECO or ESE?

Lincoln Electric received 33 more outperform votes than ESCO Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 59.51% of users gave Lincoln Electric an outperform vote while only 58.62% of users gave ESCO Technologies an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Lincoln Electric	Outperform Votes 441 59.51%	Underperform Votes 300 40.49%
ESCO Technologies	Outperform Votes 408 58.62%	Underperform Votes 288 41.38%

Is LECO or ESE more profitable?

Lincoln Electric has a net margin of 13.23% compared to Lincoln Electric's net margin of 9.94%. ESCO Technologies' return on equity of 43.81% beat Lincoln Electric's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lincoln Electric	13.23%	43.81%	16.50%
ESCO Technologies	9.94%	8.83%	5.79%

Does the media prefer LECO or ESE?

In the previous week, Lincoln Electric had 5 more articles in the media than ESCO Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Lincoln Electric and 6 mentions for ESCO Technologies. Lincoln Electric's average media sentiment score of 0.78 beat ESCO Technologies' score of 0.72 indicating that ESCO Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lincoln Electric	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ESCO Technologies	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LECO or ESE a better dividend stock?

Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. ESCO Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Lincoln Electric pays out 30.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ESCO Technologies pays out 8.4% 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 29 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 and volatility, LECO or ESE?

Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ESCO Technologies has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, LECO or ESE?

Lincoln Electric has higher revenue and earnings than ESCO Technologies. Lincoln Electric 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
Lincoln Electric	$4.19B	2.86	$545.25M	$9.42	22.33
ESCO Technologies	$956.03M	3.35	$92.54M	$3.81	32.63

Do analysts recommend LECO or ESE?

Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus price target of $221.71, suggesting a potential upside of 5.40%. ESCO Technologies has a consensus price target of $125.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.56%. Given ESCO Technologies' higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Lincoln Electric is more favorable than ESCO Technologies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lincoln Electric	2 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
ESCO Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Summary

Lincoln Electric beats ESCO Technologies on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.