H&E Equipment Services (HEES) Competitors

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) and H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, community ranking and risk.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in AIT or HEES?

93.5% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.1% of H&E Equipment Services shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.5% of H&E Equipment Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is AIT or HEES more profitable?

H&E Equipment Services has a net margin of 9.47% compared to Applied Industrial Technologies' net margin of 8.62%. H&E Equipment Services' return on equity of 25.46% beat Applied Industrial Technologies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Applied Industrial Technologies	8.62%	22.37%	13.03%
H&E Equipment Services	9.47%	25.46%	5.16%

Do analysts recommend AIT or HEES?

Applied Industrial Technologies presently has a consensus price target of $284.29, suggesting a potential upside of 21.13%. H&E Equipment Services has a consensus price target of $71.33, suggesting a potential downside of 25.67%. Given Applied Industrial Technologies' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Applied Industrial Technologies is more favorable than H&E Equipment Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Applied Industrial Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88
H&E Equipment Services	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Does the media favor AIT or HEES?

In the previous week, Applied Industrial Technologies had 2 more articles in the media than H&E Equipment Services. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Applied Industrial Technologies and 10 mentions for H&E Equipment Services. Applied Industrial Technologies' average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat H&E Equipment Services' score of 1.05 indicating that Applied Industrial Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Applied Industrial Technologies	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
H&E Equipment Services	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, AIT or HEES?

Applied Industrial Technologies has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, H&E Equipment Services has a beta of 1.94, suggesting that its stock price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AIT or HEES?

H&E Equipment Services received 2 more outperform votes than Applied Industrial Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.42% of users gave Applied Industrial Technologies an outperform vote while only 56.93% of users gave H&E Equipment Services an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Applied Industrial Technologies	Outperform Votes 265 59.42%	Underperform Votes 181 40.58%
H&E Equipment Services	Outperform Votes 267 56.93%	Underperform Votes 202 43.07%

Is AIT or HEES a better dividend stock?

Applied Industrial Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. H&E Equipment Services pays an annual dividend of $1.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Applied Industrial Technologies pays out 18.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. H&E Equipment Services pays out 32.6% 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. Applied Industrial Technologies has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, AIT or HEES?

Applied Industrial Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than H&E Equipment Services. Applied Industrial Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than H&E Equipment Services, 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
Applied Industrial Technologies	$4.48B	2.01	$385.76M	$9.87	23.78
H&E Equipment Services	$1.52B	2.32	$169.29M	$3.37	28.48

Summary

Applied Industrial Technologies beats H&E Equipment Services on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.