Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) & Techtronic Industries (OTCMKTS:TTNDY) Critical Review

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) and Techtronic Industries (OTCMKTS:TTNDY) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Lincoln Electric and Techtronic Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lincoln Electric	1	1	3	0	2.40
Techtronic Industries	0	0	0	1	4.00

Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus target price of $222.60, suggesting a potential downside of 0.33%. Given Lincoln Electric’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Lincoln Electric is more favorable than Techtronic Industries.

Dividends

Lincoln Electric pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Techtronic Industries pays an annual dividend of $1.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Lincoln Electric pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lincoln Electric has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

79.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Techtronic Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Lincoln Electric shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Lincoln Electric and Techtronic Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lincoln Electric	11.44%	39.44%	14.75%
Techtronic Industries	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lincoln Electric and Techtronic Industries”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lincoln Electric	$4.01 billion	3.11	$466.11 million	$8.11	27.54
Techtronic Industries	$14.62 billion	1.51	$1.12 billion	N/A	N/A

Techtronic Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Lincoln Electric.

Volatility and Risk

Lincoln Electric has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Techtronic Industries has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lincoln Electric beats Techtronic Industries on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lincoln Electric

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells welding, cutting, and brazing products worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Americas Welding, International Welding, and The Harris Products Group. It offers brazing and soldering filler metals, arc welding equipment, plasma and oxyfuel cutting systems, wire feeding systems, fume control equipment, welding accessories, and specialty gas regulators, and education solutions, as well as a portfolio of automated solutions for joining, cutting, material handling, module assembly, and end of line testing, as well as involved in brazing and soldering alloys, and in the retail business in the United States. In addition, the company manufactures copper and aluminum headers, distributor assemblies, and manifolds for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning sector in the United States and Mexico; provides specialty welding consumables, wear plates and maintenance and repair services for alloy and wear-resistant products used in mining, steel, agricultural, and industrial mill applications; and designs and manufactures robotic assembly and arc welding systems that automate the tacking and welding of steel beams. Further, the company serves general fabrication, oil and gas, power generation, process, automotive and transportation, and construction and infrastructure industries, as well as heavy fabrication, ship building, and maintenance and repair markets. It sells its products directly to users of welding products, as well as through industrial distributors, retailers, and agents. The company was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

About Techtronic Industries

Techtronic Industries Company Limited engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of power tools, outdoor power equipment, and floorcare and cleaning products in the North America, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Power Equipment, and Floorcare & Cleaning Segments. It offers power tools, power tool accessories, outdoor products, and outdoor product accessories under the MILWAUKEE, EMPIRE, AEG, RYOBI, HOMELITE, and HART brands, as well as to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers. The company also provides floorcare products and accessories under the HOOVER, DIRT DEVIL, VAX, and ORECK brands, as well as to OEM customers; and offers inspection services. It serves Do-It-Yourself /Consumer, professional, and industrial users in the home improvement, repair, maintenance, construction, and infrastructure industries. Techtronic Industries Company Limited was founded in 1985 and is based in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong.