WSO vs. URI, GWW, FAST, WCC, AIT, BECN, AL, MSM, GATX, and RUSHA
Should you be buying Watsco stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Watsco include United Rentals (URI), W.W. Grainger (GWW), Fastenal (FAST), WESCO International (WCC), Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT), Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN), Air Lease (AL), MSC Industrial Direct (MSM), GATX (GATX), and Rush Enterprises (RUSHA). These companies are all part of the "trading companies & distributors" industry.
United Rentals (NYSE:URI) and Watsco (NYSE:WSO) are both large-cap construction companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and community ranking.
In the previous week, United Rentals had 21 more articles in the media than Watsco. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for United Rentals and 7 mentions for Watsco. Watsco's average media sentiment score of 1.03 beat United Rentals' score of 0.80 indicating that United Rentals is being referred to more favorably in the media.
United Rentals pays an annual dividend of $6.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Watsco pays an annual dividend of $10.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. United Rentals pays out 17.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Watsco pays out 83.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Watsco has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years. Watsco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
96.3% of United Rentals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Watsco shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of United Rentals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of Watsco shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
United Rentals received 420 more outperform votes than Watsco when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.71% of users gave United Rentals an outperform vote while only 55.46% of users gave Watsco an outperform vote.
United Rentals has higher revenue and earnings than Watsco. United Rentals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Watsco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
United Rentals has a net margin of 17.35% compared to United Rentals' net margin of 7.03%. Watsco's return on equity of 35.87% beat United Rentals' return on equity.
United Rentals has a beta of 1.71, suggesting that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Watsco has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.
United Rentals presently has a consensus target price of $651.20, indicating a potential downside of 13.43%. Watsco has a consensus target price of $410.57, indicating a potential downside of 19.58%. Given Watsco's higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe United Rentals is more favorable than Watsco.
Summary
United Rentals beats Watsco on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WSO and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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