Crane (CR) Competitors

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

Is XYL or CR 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
Xylem	9.85%	9.61%	6.22%
Crane	13.10%	24.45%	10.14%

Does the media favor XYL or CR?

In the previous week, Crane had 2 more articles in the media than Xylem. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Crane and 18 mentions for Xylem. Xylem's average media sentiment score of 1.22 beat Crane's score of 0.35 indicating that Xylem is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Xylem	14 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Crane	6 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts rate XYL or CR?

Xylem presently has a consensus target price of $147.17, suggesting a potential upside of 20.85%. Crane has a consensus target price of $157.33, suggesting a potential downside of 9.32%. Given Xylem's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Xylem is more favorable than Crane.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Xylem	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69
Crane	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.83

Is XYL or CR a better dividend stock?

Xylem pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Crane pays an annual dividend of $0.82 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Xylem pays out 42.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crane pays out 18.1% 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. Xylem has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years. Xylem is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, XYL or CR?

Xylem has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crane has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer XYL or CR?

Xylem received 92 more outperform votes than Crane when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.18% of users gave Xylem an outperform vote while only 59.72% of users gave Crane an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Xylem	Outperform Votes 525 63.18%	Underperform Votes 306 36.82%
Crane	Outperform Votes 433 59.72%	Underperform Votes 292 40.28%

Which has better valuation and earnings, XYL or CR?

Xylem has higher revenue and earnings than Crane. Xylem is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Crane, 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
Xylem	$7.36B	4.02	$609M	$3.42	35.61
Crane	$2.28B	4.36	$401.10M	$4.54	38.22

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

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

Summary

Xylem beats Crane on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.