Graco - GGG Competitors

Graco (NYSE:GGG) and IDEX (NYSE:IEX) are both large-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, community ranking, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor GGG or IEX?

IDEX received 72 more outperform votes than Graco when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.88% of users gave Graco an outperform vote while only 59.21% of users gave IDEX an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Graco	Outperform Votes 375 61.88%	Underperform Votes 231 38.12%
IDEX	Outperform Votes 447 59.21%	Underperform Votes 308 40.79%

Is GGG or IEX more profitable?

Graco has a net margin of 21.49% compared to IDEX's net margin of 18.44%. Graco's return on equity of 25.67% beat IDEX's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Graco	21.49%	25.67%	18.98%
IDEX	18.44%	21.44%	12.17%

Do analysts prefer GGG or IEX?

Graco presently has a consensus price target of $73.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.72%. IDEX has a consensus price target of $239.91, indicating a potential upside of 9.33%. Given IDEX's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe IDEX is more favorable than Graco.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Graco	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
IDEX	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media refer more to GGG or IEX?

In the previous week, Graco had 1 more articles in the media than IDEX. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Graco and 6 mentions for IDEX. Graco's average media sentiment score of 0.58 beat IDEX's score of 0.44 indicating that Graco is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Graco	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
IDEX	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is GGG or IEX a better dividend stock?

Graco pays an annual dividend of $0.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. IDEX pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Graco pays out 35.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. IDEX pays out 31.1% 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.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in GGG or IEX?

85.9% of Graco shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of IDEX shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Graco shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of IDEX shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, GGG or IEX?

IDEX has higher revenue and earnings than Graco. Graco is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than IDEX, 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
Graco	$2.14 billion	5.41	$460.64 million	$2.67	25.86
IDEX	$3.18 billion	5.21	$586.90 million	$7.71	28.46

Which has more risk and volatility, GGG or IEX?

Graco has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IDEX has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

IDEX beats Graco on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.