Sherwin-Williams (SHW) Competitors

Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) and Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, SHW or LIN?

Linde has higher revenue and earnings than Sherwin-Williams. Sherwin-Williams is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Linde, 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
Sherwin-Williams	$23.10B	3.77	$2.68B	$10.58	32.83
Linde	$33.01B	6.72	$6.57B	$13.77	34.24

Is SHW or LIN more profitable?

Linde has a net margin of 20.02% compared to Sherwin-Williams' net margin of 11.63%. Sherwin-Williams' return on equity of 71.86% beat Linde's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sherwin-Williams	11.63%	71.86%	12.05%
Linde	20.02%	18.95%	9.26%

Which has more risk & volatility, SHW or LIN?

Sherwin-Williams has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Linde has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend SHW or LIN?

Sherwin-Williams presently has a consensus target price of $391.31, indicating a potential upside of 12.65%. Linde has a consensus target price of $515.90, indicating a potential upside of 9.43%. Given Sherwin-Williams' higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Sherwin-Williams is more favorable than Linde.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sherwin-Williams	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.72
Linde	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is SHW or LIN a better dividend stock?

Sherwin-Williams pays an annual dividend of $3.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Sherwin-Williams pays out 29.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Linde pays out 43.6% 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. Sherwin-Williams has increased its dividend for 48 consecutive years and Linde has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in SHW or LIN?

77.7% of Sherwin-Williams shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Linde shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Sherwin-Williams shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Linde shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to SHW or LIN?

In the previous week, Linde had 8 more articles in the media than Sherwin-Williams. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for Linde and 28 mentions for Sherwin-Williams. Sherwin-Williams' average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Linde's score of 1.44 indicating that Sherwin-Williams is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sherwin-Williams	25 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Linde	32 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Linde beats Sherwin-Williams on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.