MSA Safety (MSA) Competitors

Avery Dennison (NYSE:AVY) and MSA Safety (NYSE:MSA) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and media sentiment.

Is AVY or MSA a better dividend stock?

Avery Dennison pays an annual dividend of $3.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. MSA Safety pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Avery Dennison pays out 40.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MSA Safety pays out 28.3% 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. Avery Dennison has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years and MSA Safety has raised its dividend for 55 consecutive years.

Is AVY or MSA more profitable?

MSA Safety has a net margin of 15.76% compared to Avery Dennison's net margin of 8.05%. Avery Dennison's return on equity of 33.06% beat MSA Safety's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avery Dennison	8.05%	33.06%	9.11%
MSA Safety	15.76%	28.64%	13.74%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AVY or MSA?

94.2% of Avery Dennison shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.5% of MSA Safety shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Avery Dennison shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of MSA Safety shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better valuation and earnings, AVY or MSA?

Avery Dennison has higher revenue and earnings than MSA Safety. Avery Dennison is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MSA Safety, 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
Avery Dennison	$8.76B	1.52	$704.90M	$8.72	19.32
MSA Safety	$1.81B	3.10	$284.97M	$7.21	19.78

Which has more volatility & risk, AVY or MSA?

Avery Dennison has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MSA Safety has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer AVY or MSA?

Avery Dennison presently has a consensus target price of $220.87, suggesting a potential upside of 31.10%. MSA Safety has a consensus target price of $194.20, suggesting a potential upside of 36.15%. Given MSA Safety's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MSA Safety is more favorable than Avery Dennison.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avery Dennison	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82
MSA Safety	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media favor AVY or MSA?

In the previous week, Avery Dennison had 13 more articles in the media than MSA Safety. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Avery Dennison and 9 mentions for MSA Safety. Avery Dennison's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat MSA Safety's score of 1.15 indicating that Avery Dennison is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Avery Dennison	17 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
MSA Safety	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AVY or MSA?

Avery Dennison received 131 more outperform votes than MSA Safety when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.01% of users gave MSA Safety an outperform vote while only 57.45% of users gave Avery Dennison an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Avery Dennison	Outperform Votes 428 57.45%	Underperform Votes 317 42.55%
MSA Safety	Outperform Votes 297 64.01%	Underperform Votes 167 35.99%

Summary

MSA Safety beats Avery Dennison on 12 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.