Fortive (FTV) Competitors

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

Is FTV or NDSN a better dividend stock?

Fortive pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Nordson pays an annual dividend of $3.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Fortive pays out 10.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nordson pays out 41.2% 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. Fortive has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Nordson has raised its dividend for 62 consecutive years. Nordson is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is FTV or NDSN 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
Fortive	13.62%	11.96%	7.08%
Nordson	16.34%	19.45%	9.55%

Do analysts prefer FTV or NDSN?

Fortive presently has a consensus price target of $62.79, indicating a potential upside of 27.64%. Nordson has a consensus price target of $255.75, indicating a potential upside of 9.79%. Given Fortive's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Fortive is more favorable than Nordson.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fortive	1 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.16
Nordson	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media refer more to FTV or NDSN?

In the previous week, Fortive had 10 more articles in the media than Nordson. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Fortive and 6 mentions for Nordson. Nordson's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat Fortive's score of 0.91 indicating that Nordson is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Fortive	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Nordson	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of FTV or NDSN?

94.9% of Fortive shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.1% of Nordson shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Fortive shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Nordson shares are owned 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.

Which has more volatility and risk, FTV or NDSN?

Fortive has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nordson has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, FTV or NDSN?

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
Fortive	$6.23B	2.67	$832.90M	$2.22	22.16
Nordson	$2.69B	4.87	$467.28M	$7.96	29.26

Summary

Nordson beats Fortive on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.