Fortive (FTV) Competitors

Nordson (NASDAQ:NDSN) and Fortive (NYSE:FTV) are related large-cap companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, earnings and institutional ownership.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in NDSN or FTV?

72.1% of Nordson shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Fortive shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Nordson shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Fortive shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, NDSN or FTV?

Nordson has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fortive has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is NDSN or FTV a better dividend stock?

Nordson pays an annual dividend of $3.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Fortive pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Nordson pays out 39.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Fortive pays out 14.4% 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. Nordson has increased its dividend for 62 consecutive years and Fortive has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Nordson is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is NDSN or FTV more profitable?

Nordson has a net margin of 16.34% compared to Fortive's net margin of 13.62%. Nordson's return on equity of 19.45% beat Fortive's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nordson	16.34%	19.45%	9.55%
Fortive	13.62%	11.96%	7.08%

Do analysts rate NDSN or FTV?

Nordson presently has a consensus target price of $255.75, indicating a potential upside of 13.83%. Fortive has a consensus target price of $65.57, indicating a potential upside of 36.66%. Given Fortive's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fortive is more favorable than Nordson.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nordson	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.55
Fortive	0 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.28

Does the media favor NDSN or FTV?

In the previous week, Nordson had 21 more articles in the media than Fortive. MarketBeat recorded 37 mentions for Nordson and 16 mentions for Fortive. Fortive's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Nordson's score of 0.84 indicating that Fortive is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Nordson	17 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Fortive	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, NDSN or FTV?

Fortive has higher revenue and earnings than Nordson. Fortive is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nordson, 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
Nordson	$2.69B	4.69	$467.28M	$7.96	28.22
Fortive	$6.23B	2.60	$832.90M	$2.22	21.61

Summary

Nordson beats Fortive on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.