SHW vs. ECL, IFF, CE, ALB, RPM, NEU, ASH, BCPC, FUL, and SXT
Should you be buying Sherwin-Williams stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Sherwin-Williams include Ecolab (ECL), International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), Celanese (CE), Albemarle (ALB), RPM International (RPM), NewMarket (NEU), Ashland (ASH), Balchem (BCPC), H.B. Fuller (FUL), and Sensient Technologies (SXT). These companies are all part of the "specialty chemicals" industry.
Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) and Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) are both large-cap construction companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, risk, profitability, dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Sherwin-Williams has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ecolab has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Sherwin-Williams has higher revenue and earnings than Ecolab. Sherwin-Williams is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ecolab, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Sherwin-Williams received 139 more outperform votes than Ecolab when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.75% of users gave Ecolab an outperform vote while only 64.30% of users gave Sherwin-Williams an outperform vote.
Sherwin-Williams pays an annual dividend of $2.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ecolab pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Sherwin-Williams pays out 30.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ecolab pays out 42.2% 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.
In the previous week, Sherwin-Williams had 3 more articles in the media than Ecolab. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Sherwin-Williams and 9 mentions for Ecolab. Sherwin-Williams' average media sentiment score of 1.45 beat Ecolab's score of 0.87 indicating that Sherwin-Williams is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Sherwin-Williams has a net margin of 10.52% compared to Ecolab's net margin of 10.01%. Sherwin-Williams' return on equity of 73.74% beat Ecolab's return on equity.
Sherwin-Williams currently has a consensus price target of $344.41, indicating a potential upside of 13.37%. Ecolab has a consensus price target of $239.56, indicating a potential upside of 3.17%. Given Sherwin-Williams' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Sherwin-Williams is more favorable than Ecolab.
77.7% of Sherwin-Williams shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.9% of Ecolab shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Sherwin-Williams shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Ecolab shares are held by 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.
Summary
Sherwin-Williams beats Ecolab on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Sherwin-Williams News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for SHW and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding SHW and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis 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.
Skip Chart
Sherwin-Williams Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools