L.B. Foster (FSTR) Competitors

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) and Hyster-Yale Materials Handling (NYSE:HY) are both small-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, community ranking, profitability, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and risk.

Do analysts recommend FSTR or HY?

L.B. Foster currently has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 34.70%. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling has a consensus target price of $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 116.05%. Given Hyster-Yale Materials Handling's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hyster-Yale Materials Handling is more favorable than L.B. Foster.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
L.B. Foster	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FSTR or HY?

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling received 13 more outperform votes than L.B. Foster when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 56.89% of users gave L.B. Foster an outperform vote while only 56.74% of users gave Hyster-Yale Materials Handling an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
L.B. Foster	Outperform Votes 227 56.89%	Underperform Votes 172 43.11%
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	Outperform Votes 240 56.74%	Underperform Votes 183 43.26%

Is FSTR or HY more profitable?

L.B. Foster has a net margin of 7.96% compared to Hyster-Yale Materials Handling's net margin of 3.68%. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling's return on equity of 34.77% beat L.B. Foster's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
L.B. Foster	7.96%	6.01%	2.82%
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	3.68%	34.77%	7.41%

Does the media refer more to FSTR or HY?

In the previous week, L.B. Foster had 18 more articles in the media than Hyster-Yale Materials Handling. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for L.B. Foster and 3 mentions for Hyster-Yale Materials Handling. L.B. Foster's average media sentiment score of 0.94 beat Hyster-Yale Materials Handling's score of 0.59 indicating that L.B. Foster is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
L.B. Foster	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in FSTR or HY?

80.6% of L.B. Foster shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.5% of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling shares are held by institutional investors. 6.2% of L.B. Foster shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 33.9% of Hyster-Yale Materials Handling shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is FSTR or HY a better dividend stock?

L.B. Foster pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. L.B. Foster pays out 4.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling pays out 17.4% 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.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, FSTR or HY?

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling has higher revenue and earnings than L.B. Foster. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than L.B. Foster, 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
L.B. Foster	$530.77M	0.38	$1.46M	$3.91	4.75
Hyster-Yale Materials Handling	$4.31B	0.15	$125.90M	$8.06	4.59

Which has more risk & volatility, FSTR or HY?

L.B. Foster has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling beats L.B. Foster on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.