Acuity Brands (AYI) Competitors

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) and Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) are both construction companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, community ranking, earnings, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AYI or ROK?

98.2% of Acuity Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.8% of Rockwell Automation shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Acuity Brands shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Rockwell Automation shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, AYI or ROK?

Rockwell Automation has higher revenue and earnings than Acuity Brands. Acuity Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Rockwell Automation, 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
Acuity Brands	$3.86B	2.14	$422.60M	$13.58	19.65
Rockwell Automation	$8.09B	3.64	$952.50M	$8.03	32.47

Does the media refer more to AYI or ROK?

In the previous week, Rockwell Automation had 9 more articles in the media than Acuity Brands. MarketBeat recorded 47 mentions for Rockwell Automation and 38 mentions for Acuity Brands. Rockwell Automation's average media sentiment score of 1.15 beat Acuity Brands' score of 0.82 indicating that Rockwell Automation is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Acuity Brands	15 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Rockwell Automation	32 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AYI or ROK a better dividend stock?

Acuity Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Rockwell Automation pays an annual dividend of $5.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Acuity Brands pays out 5.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Rockwell Automation pays out 65.3% 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. Rockwell Automation has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Rockwell Automation is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AYI or ROK?

Acuity Brands received 86 more outperform votes than Rockwell Automation when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.90% of users gave Acuity Brands an outperform vote while only 55.06% of users gave Rockwell Automation an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Acuity Brands	Outperform Votes 717 67.90%	Underperform Votes 339 32.10%
Rockwell Automation	Outperform Votes 631 55.06%	Underperform Votes 515 44.94%

Which has more risk and volatility, AYI or ROK?

Acuity Brands has a beta of 1.41, indicating that its share price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rockwell Automation has a beta of 1.39, indicating that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate AYI or ROK?

Acuity Brands presently has a consensus target price of $330.60, indicating a potential upside of 23.92%. Rockwell Automation has a consensus target price of $307.42, indicating a potential upside of 17.90%. Given Acuity Brands' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Acuity Brands is more favorable than Rockwell Automation.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acuity Brands	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Rockwell Automation	3 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.32

Is AYI or ROK more profitable?

Rockwell Automation has a net margin of 11.38% compared to Acuity Brands' net margin of 11.11%. Rockwell Automation's return on equity of 30.17% beat Acuity Brands' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acuity Brands	11.11%	19.98%	12.44%
Rockwell Automation	11.38%	30.17%	9.75%

Summary

Rockwell Automation beats Acuity Brands on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.