Griffon (GFF) Competitors

A. O. Smith (NYSE:AOS) and Griffon (NYSE:GFF) are both industrial products companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation and risk.

Do analysts prefer AOS or GFF?

A. O. Smith currently has a consensus target price of $90.67, indicating a potential upside of 8.40%. Griffon has a consensus target price of $81.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.93%. Given A. O. Smith's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Griffon is more favorable than A. O. Smith.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
A. O. Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14
Griffon	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.33

Which has higher earnings and valuation, AOS or GFF?

A. O. Smith has higher revenue and earnings than Griffon. Griffon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than A. O. Smith, 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
A. O. Smith	$3.85B	3.18	$556.60M	$3.86	21.67
Griffon	$2.69B	1.25	$77.62M	$3.79	17.82

Does the media favor AOS or GFF?

In the previous week, A. O. Smith had 1 more articles in the media than Griffon. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for A. O. Smith and 6 mentions for Griffon. Griffon's average media sentiment score of 1.11 beat A. O. Smith's score of 0.73 indicating that A. O. Smith is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
A. O. Smith	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Griffon	4 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, AOS or GFF?

A. O. Smith has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Griffon has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AOS or GFF?

76.1% of A. O. Smith shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.2% of Griffon shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of A. O. Smith shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.1% of Griffon shares are owned 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AOS or GFF?

A. O. Smith received 214 more outperform votes than Griffon when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.99% of users gave Griffon an outperform vote while only 62.28% of users gave A. O. Smith an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
A. O. Smith	Outperform Votes 459 62.28%	Underperform Votes 278 37.72%
Griffon	Outperform Votes 245 64.99%	Underperform Votes 132 35.01%

Is AOS or GFF more profitable?

A. O. Smith has a net margin of 14.94% compared to A. O. Smith's net margin of 7.48%. A. O. Smith's return on equity of 90.02% beat Griffon's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
A. O. Smith	14.94%	30.94%	18.06%
Griffon	7.48%	90.02%	10.45%

Is AOS or GFF a better dividend stock?

A. O. Smith pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Griffon pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. A. O. Smith pays out 33.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Griffon pays out 15.8% 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. A. O. Smith has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years and Griffon has increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years. A. O. Smith is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

A. O. Smith beats Griffon on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.