Nova (NVMI) Competitors

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) and Fortive (NYSE:FTV) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their community ranking, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment, valuation and earnings.

Which has more risk and volatility, NVMI or FTV?

Nova has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fortive has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, NVMI or FTV?

Fortive has higher revenue and earnings than Nova. Fortive is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nova, 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
Nova	$672.40M	11.53	$183.76M	$5.74	46.49
Fortive	$6.23B	4.45	$832.90M	$2.36	33.86

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in NVMI or FTV?

Nova received 43 more outperform votes than Fortive when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.30% of users gave Nova an outperform vote while only 59.48% of users gave Fortive an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Nova	Outperform Votes 451 74.30%	Underperform Votes 156 25.70%
Fortive	Outperform Votes 408 59.48%	Underperform Votes 278 40.52%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of NVMI or FTV?

83.0% of Nova shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Fortive shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Nova shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Fortive shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer NVMI or FTV?

Nova presently has a consensus target price of $246.67, indicating a potential downside of 7.56%. Fortive has a consensus target price of $87.64, indicating a potential upside of 9.69%. Given Fortive's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Fortive is more favorable than Nova.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nova	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
Fortive	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54

Is NVMI or FTV more profitable?

Nova has a net margin of 27.33% compared to Fortive's net margin of 13.36%. Nova's return on equity of 22.33% beat Fortive's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nova	27.33%	22.33%	15.01%
Fortive	13.36%	13.15%	7.92%

Does the media refer more to NVMI or FTV?

In the previous week, Nova had 3 more articles in the media than Fortive. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Nova and 11 mentions for Fortive. Fortive's average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Nova's score of 0.72 indicating that Fortive is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Nova	5 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Fortive	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Nova beats Fortive on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.