Brady (BRC) Competitors

Brady (NYSE:BRC) and Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) are both mid-cap industrial products companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, community ranking, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and risk.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, BRC or AYI?

Acuity Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Brady. Brady is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acuity Brands, 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
Brady	$1.34B	2.48	$197.21M	$4.07	17.11
Acuity Brands	$3.84B	2.49	$422.60M	$13.58	22.76

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in BRC or AYI?

76.3% of Brady shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Acuity Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 15.6% of Brady shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Acuity Brands shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer BRC or AYI?

In the previous week, Brady had 14 more articles in the media than Acuity Brands. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Brady and 11 mentions for Acuity Brands. Acuity Brands' average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Brady's score of 0.44 indicating that Acuity Brands is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Brady	5 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Acuity Brands	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, BRC or AYI?

Brady has a beta of 0.76, indicating that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acuity Brands has a beta of 1.4, indicating that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is BRC or AYI more profitable?

Brady has a net margin of 14.19% compared to Acuity Brands' net margin of 11.11%. Acuity Brands' return on equity of 19.98% beat Brady's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brady	14.19%	19.79%	14.03%
Acuity Brands	11.11%	19.98%	12.44%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer BRC or AYI?

Acuity Brands received 341 more outperform votes than Brady when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.00% of users gave Acuity Brands an outperform vote while only 66.96% of users gave Brady an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Brady	Outperform Votes 375 66.96%	Underperform Votes 185 33.04%
Acuity Brands	Outperform Votes 716 68.00%	Underperform Votes 337 32.00%

Do analysts prefer BRC or AYI?

Acuity Brands has a consensus price target of $341.40, indicating a potential upside of 10.45%. Given Acuity Brands' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Acuity Brands is more favorable than Brady.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brady	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Acuity Brands	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is BRC or AYI a better dividend stock?

Brady pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Acuity Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Brady pays out 23.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Acuity Brands pays out 5.0% 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. Brady has raised its dividend for 39 consecutive years. Brady is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Acuity Brands beats Brady on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.