Crane (CR) Competitors

Crane (NYSE:CR) and Xylem (NYSE:XYL) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, media sentiment, dividends, valuation, profitability, community ranking, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Does the media refer more to CR or XYL?

In the previous week, Xylem had 4 more articles in the media than Crane. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Xylem and 17 mentions for Crane. Xylem's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat Crane's score of 0.11 indicating that Xylem is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Crane	3 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Xylem	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CR or XYL more profitable?

Crane has a net margin of 13.10% compared to Xylem's net margin of 9.85%. Crane's return on equity of 24.45% beat Xylem's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crane	13.10%	24.45%	10.14%
Xylem	9.85%	9.61%	6.22%

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, CR or XYL?

Xylem has higher revenue and earnings than Crane. Crane is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Xylem, 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
Crane	$2.28B	3.92	$401.10M	$4.54	34.36
Xylem	$7.36B	3.95	$609M	$3.42	35.04

Do analysts recommend CR or XYL?

Crane presently has a consensus price target of $168.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.71%. Xylem has a consensus price target of $152.10, indicating a potential upside of 26.92%. Given Xylem's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Xylem is more favorable than Crane.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crane	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Xylem	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CR or XYL?

Xylem received 95 more outperform votes than Crane when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.23% of users gave Xylem an outperform vote while only 59.56% of users gave Crane an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Crane	Outperform Votes 433 59.56%	Underperform Votes 294 40.44%
Xylem	Outperform Votes 528 63.23%	Underperform Votes 307 36.77%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of CR or XYL?

75.1% of Crane shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.0% of Xylem shares are held by institutional investors. 2.4% of Crane shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Xylem shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, CR or XYL?

Crane has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Xylem has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CR or XYL a better dividend stock?

Crane pays an annual dividend of $0.82 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Xylem pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Crane pays out 18.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Xylem pays out 42.1% 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.

Summary

Xylem beats Crane on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.