Lear (LEA) Competitors

Lear (NYSE:LEA) and Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) are both mid-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Is LEA or GNTX a better dividend stock?

Lear pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Gentex pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Lear pays out 35.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Gentex pays out 27.1% 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.

Which has more volatility and risk, LEA or GNTX?

Lear has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gentex has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings and valuation, LEA or GNTX?

Lear has higher revenue and earnings than Gentex. Lear is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Gentex, 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
Lear	$23.31B	0.21	$506.60M	$8.57	10.85
Gentex	$2.38B	2.48	$404.49M	$1.77	14.85

Do institutionals and insiders believe in LEA or GNTX?

97.0% of Lear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.8% of Gentex shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Lear shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Gentex shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer LEA or GNTX?

In the previous week, Lear had 16 more articles in the media than Gentex. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for Lear and 27 mentions for Gentex. Gentex's average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat Lear's score of 0.58 indicating that Gentex is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lear	20 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Gentex	9 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LEA or GNTX more profitable?

Gentex has a net margin of 16.82% compared to Lear's net margin of 2.05%. Gentex's return on equity of 16.86% beat Lear's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lear	2.05%	13.94%	4.63%
Gentex	16.82%	16.86%	14.90%

Do analysts recommend LEA or GNTX?

Lear presently has a consensus price target of $113.00, suggesting a potential upside of 21.49%. Gentex has a consensus price target of $28.63, suggesting a potential upside of 8.92%. Given Lear's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Lear is more favorable than Gentex.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lear	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.31
Gentex	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Summary

Lear beats Gentex on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.