Piedmont Lithium (PLL) Competitors

Columbus McKinnon (NASDAQ:CMCO) and Piedmont Lithium (NASDAQ:PLL) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, community ranking, media sentiment, risk, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CMCO or PLL?

Columbus McKinnon received 76 more outperform votes than Piedmont Lithium when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.89% of users gave Columbus McKinnon an outperform vote while only 52.48% of users gave Piedmont Lithium an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Columbus McKinnon	Outperform Votes 288 60.89%	Underperform Votes 185 39.11%
Piedmont Lithium	Outperform Votes 212 52.48%	Underperform Votes 192 47.52%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in CMCO or PLL?

96.0% of Columbus McKinnon shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.2% of Piedmont Lithium shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Columbus McKinnon shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Piedmont Lithium shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, CMCO or PLL?

Columbus McKinnon has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Piedmont Lithium has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CMCO or PLL more profitable?

Columbus McKinnon has a net margin of 0.95% compared to Piedmont Lithium's net margin of -64.84%. Columbus McKinnon's return on equity of 8.64% beat Piedmont Lithium's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbus McKinnon	0.95%	8.64%	4.30%
Piedmont Lithium	-64.84%	-17.74%	-15.66%

Does the media prefer CMCO or PLL?

In the previous week, Columbus McKinnon had 2 more articles in the media than Piedmont Lithium. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Columbus McKinnon and 5 mentions for Piedmont Lithium. Columbus McKinnon's average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat Piedmont Lithium's score of 0.45 indicating that Columbus McKinnon is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Columbus McKinnon	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Piedmont Lithium	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is CMCO or PLL a better dividend stock?

Columbus McKinnon pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Piedmont Lithium pays an annual dividend of $1.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 17.1%. Columbus McKinnon pays out 84.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Piedmont Lithium pays out -36.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Piedmont Lithium is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts rate CMCO or PLL?

Columbus McKinnon currently has a consensus target price of $44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 219.54%. Piedmont Lithium has a consensus target price of $12.75, suggesting a potential upside of 78.32%. Given Columbus McKinnon's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Columbus McKinnon is more favorable than Piedmont Lithium.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbus McKinnon	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Piedmont Lithium	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has better earnings and valuation, CMCO or PLL?

Columbus McKinnon has higher revenue and earnings than Piedmont Lithium. Piedmont Lithium is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Columbus McKinnon, 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
Columbus McKinnon	$981.64M	0.40	$46.62M	$0.33	41.73
Piedmont Lithium	$99.88M	1.57	-$21.78M	-$3.32	-2.15

Summary

Columbus McKinnon beats Piedmont Lithium on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.