ESCO Technologies (ESE) Competitors

Graco (NYSE:GGG) and ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE) are both industrial products companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, community ranking, risk, earnings, valuation and institutional ownership.

Is GGG or ESE a better dividend stock?

Graco pays an annual dividend of $1.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. ESCO Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Graco pays out 36.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ESCO Technologies pays out 8.3% 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. Graco has increased its dividend for 28 consecutive years. Graco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor GGG or ESE?

ESCO Technologies received 23 more outperform votes than Graco when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.63% of users gave Graco an outperform vote while only 58.80% of users gave ESCO Technologies an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Graco	Outperform Votes 388 60.63%	Underperform Votes 252 39.38%
ESCO Technologies	Outperform Votes 411 58.80%	Underperform Votes 288 41.20%

Is GGG or ESE more profitable?

Graco has a net margin of 22.87% compared to ESCO Technologies' net margin of 9.95%. Graco's return on equity of 21.24% beat ESCO Technologies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Graco	22.87%	21.24%	17.74%
ESCO Technologies	9.95%	8.82%	5.81%

Does the media refer more to GGG or ESE?

In the previous week, Graco had 10 more articles in the media than ESCO Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Graco and 4 mentions for ESCO Technologies. Graco's average media sentiment score of 1.02 beat ESCO Technologies' score of 0.82 indicating that Graco is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Graco	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ESCO Technologies	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, GGG or ESE?

Graco has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ESCO Technologies has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of GGG or ESE?

93.9% of Graco shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.7% of ESCO Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Graco shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of ESCO Technologies 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.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, GGG or ESE?

Graco has higher revenue and earnings than ESCO Technologies. Graco is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ESCO Technologies, 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
Graco	$2.20B	6.81	$506.51M	$2.83	31.27
ESCO Technologies	$956.03M	3.86	$92.54M	$3.86	37.13

Do analysts recommend GGG or ESE?

Graco presently has a consensus target price of $89.25, indicating a potential upside of 0.85%. ESCO Technologies has a consensus target price of $147.50, indicating a potential upside of 2.91%. Given ESCO Technologies' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ESCO Technologies is more favorable than Graco.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Graco	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
ESCO Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Summary

Graco beats ESCO Technologies on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.