Carriage Services (CSV) Competitors

Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) and Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, media sentiment, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation and institutional ownership.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, CSV or HI?

Hillenbrand has higher revenue and earnings than Carriage Services. Hillenbrand is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Carriage Services, 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
Carriage Services	$382.52M	1.52	$33.41M	$2.23	17.09
Hillenbrand	$3.18B	0.72	$569.70M	-$2.99	-10.96

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in CSV or HI?

66.5% of Carriage Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of Hillenbrand shares are held by institutional investors. 12.1% of Carriage Services shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Hillenbrand shares are held by company 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 CSV or HI?

In the previous week, Hillenbrand had 28 more articles in the media than Carriage Services. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for Hillenbrand and 2 mentions for Carriage Services. Carriage Services' average media sentiment score of 0.86 beat Hillenbrand's score of 0.14 indicating that Carriage Services is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Carriage Services	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Hillenbrand	3 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts recommend CSV or HI?

Carriage Services presently has a consensus price target of $42.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.55%. Hillenbrand has a consensus price target of $44.67, indicating a potential upside of 36.30%. Given Hillenbrand's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hillenbrand is more favorable than Carriage Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Carriage Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Hillenbrand	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is CSV or HI a better dividend stock?

Carriage Services pays an annual dividend of $0.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Hillenbrand pays an annual dividend of $0.89 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Carriage Services pays out 20.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hillenbrand pays out -29.8% 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. Hillenbrand has raised its dividend for 17 consecutive years. Hillenbrand is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, CSV or HI?

Carriage Services has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hillenbrand has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CSV or HI?

Carriage Services received 22 more outperform votes than Hillenbrand when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.88% of users gave Carriage Services an outperform vote while only 56.59% of users gave Hillenbrand an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Carriage Services	Outperform Votes 301 68.88%	Underperform Votes 136 31.12%
Hillenbrand	Outperform Votes 279 56.59%	Underperform Votes 214 43.41%

Is CSV or HI more profitable?

Carriage Services has a net margin of 8.57% compared to Hillenbrand's net margin of -6.63%. Carriage Services' return on equity of 23.52% beat Hillenbrand's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Carriage Services	8.57%	23.52%	3.42%
Hillenbrand	-6.63%	14.86%	4.32%

Summary

Hillenbrand beats Carriage Services on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.