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 earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Which has more risk & volatility, LEA or GNTX?

Lear has a beta of 1.53, suggesting that its share price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gentex has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in LEA or GNTX?

Lear received 256 more outperform votes than Gentex when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.79% of users gave Gentex an outperform vote while only 59.56% of users gave Lear an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Lear	Outperform Votes 657 59.56%	Underperform Votes 446 40.44%
Gentex	Outperform Votes 401 61.79%	Underperform Votes 248 38.21%

Does the media refer more to LEA or GNTX?

In the previous week, Lear had 10 more articles in the media than Gentex. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Lear and 10 mentions for Gentex. Gentex's average media sentiment score of 0.49 beat Lear's score of 0.37 indicating that Gentex is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lear	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Gentex	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts rate LEA or GNTX?

Lear currently has a consensus target price of $155.54, indicating a potential upside of 12.26%. Gentex has a consensus target price of $30.80, indicating a potential upside of 11.96%. Given Lear's higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lear is more favorable than Gentex.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lear	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Gentex	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in LEA or GNTX?

99.6% of Lear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.8% of Gentex shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Lear shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Gentex shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is LEA or GNTX a better dividend stock?

Lear pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Gentex pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Lear pays out 56.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Gentex pays out 35.3% 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.

Is LEA or GNTX more profitable?

Gentex has a net margin of 16.61% compared to Lear's net margin of 1.57%. Gentex's return on equity of 15.91% beat Lear's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lear	1.57%	11.22%	3.86%
Gentex	16.61%	15.91%	14.01%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, LEA or GNTX?

Lear has higher revenue and earnings than Gentex. Gentex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lear, 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	$20.89 billion	0.39	$327.70 million	$5.47	25.33
Gentex	$1.92 billion	3.36	$318.76 million	$1.36	20.23

Summary

Lear beats Gentex on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.