PPG Industries (PPG) Competitors

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) and L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) are both basic materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability, earnings and media sentiment.

Is PPG or FSTR a better dividend stock?

PPG Industries pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. L.B. Foster pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. PPG Industries pays out 64.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. L.B. Foster pays out 4.8% 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. PPG Industries has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years. PPG Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate PPG or FSTR?

PPG Industries currently has a consensus target price of $126.82, indicating a potential upside of 28.22%. L.B. Foster has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.37%. Given PPG Industries' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe PPG Industries is more favorable than L.B. Foster.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PPG Industries	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
L.B. Foster	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.67

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of PPG or FSTR?

81.9% of PPG Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.6% of L.B. Foster shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of PPG Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.7% of L.B. Foster shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer PPG or FSTR?

In the previous week, PPG Industries had 16 more articles in the media than L.B. Foster. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for PPG Industries and 4 mentions for L.B. Foster. L.B. Foster's average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat PPG Industries' score of 0.33 indicating that L.B. Foster is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PPG Industries	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
L.B. Foster	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, PPG or FSTR?

PPG Industries has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, L.B. Foster has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, PPG or FSTR?

PPG Industries has higher revenue and earnings than L.B. Foster. L.B. Foster is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PPG Industries, 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
PPG Industries	$15.64B	1.43	$1.12B	$4.41	22.43
L.B. Foster	$507.00M	0.55	$42.95M	$3.32	7.96

Is PPG or FSTR more profitable?

L.B. Foster has a net margin of 7.19% compared to PPG Industries' net margin of 6.25%. PPG Industries' return on equity of 23.85% beat L.B. Foster's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PPG Industries	6.25%	23.85%	8.40%
L.B. Foster	7.19%	3.64%	1.88%

Summary

PPG Industries beats L.B. Foster on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.