AIT vs. WSO, BECN, WCC, GATX, AL, RUSHA, MSM, HEES, DXPE, and WLFC
Should you be buying Applied Industrial Technologies stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Applied Industrial Technologies include Watsco (WSO), Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN), WESCO International (WCC), GATX (GATX), Air Lease (AL), Rush Enterprises (RUSHA), MSC Industrial Direct (MSM), H&E Equipment Services (HEES), DXP Enterprises (DXPE), and Willis Lease Finance (WLFC). These companies are all part of the "trading companies & distributors" industry.
Applied Industrial Technologies vs.
Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) and Watsco (NYSE:WSO) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and community ranking.
Applied Industrial Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Watsco pays an annual dividend of $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Applied Industrial Technologies pays out 18.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Watsco pays out 90.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Applied Industrial Technologies has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years and Watsco has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.
Applied Industrial Technologies has a net margin of 8.62% compared to Watsco's net margin of 7.04%. Applied Industrial Technologies' return on equity of 22.37% beat Watsco's return on equity.
Watsco received 69 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 55.30% of users gave Watsco an outperform vote.
Applied Industrial Technologies has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Watsco has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Watsco had 8 more articles in the media than Applied Industrial Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Watsco and 19 mentions for Applied Industrial Technologies. Watsco's average media sentiment score of 1.30 beat Applied Industrial Technologies' score of 1.29 indicating that Watsco is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Applied Industrial Technologies presently has a consensus price target of $284.29, indicating a potential upside of 25.22%. Watsco has a consensus price target of $492.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.69%. Given Applied Industrial Technologies' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Applied Industrial Technologies is more favorable than Watsco.
Watsco has higher revenue and earnings than Applied Industrial Technologies. Applied Industrial Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Watsco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
93.5% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Watsco shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of Watsco shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Applied Industrial Technologies beats Watsco on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NYSE:AIT) was last updated on 4/15/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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