ESCO Technologies (ESE) Competitors

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) and ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, community ranking, risk, media sentiment, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.

Is PNR or ESE a better dividend stock?

Pentair pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. ESCO Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Pentair pays out 26.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ESCO Technologies pays out 7.5% 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.

Is PNR or ESE more profitable?

Pentair has a net margin of 15.32% compared to ESCO Technologies' net margin of 10.44%. Pentair's return on equity of 20.94% beat ESCO Technologies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pentair	15.32%	20.94%	11.05%
ESCO Technologies	10.44%	9.91%	6.63%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor PNR or ESE?

Pentair received 238 more outperform votes than ESCO Technologies when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 58.99% of users gave ESCO Technologies an outperform vote while only 57.37% of users gave Pentair an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Pentair	Outperform Votes 658 57.37%	Underperform Votes 489 42.63%
ESCO Technologies	Outperform Votes 420 58.99%	Underperform Votes 292 41.01%

Which has more risk & volatility, PNR or ESE?

Pentair has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ESCO Technologies has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer PNR or ESE?

In the previous week, Pentair had 11 more articles in the media than ESCO Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Pentair and 10 mentions for ESCO Technologies. Pentair's average media sentiment score of 1.58 beat ESCO Technologies' score of 1.31 indicating that Pentair is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Pentair	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
ESCO Technologies	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate PNR or ESE?

Pentair presently has a consensus price target of $112.93, indicating a potential upside of 23.95%. ESCO Technologies has a consensus price target of $182.50, indicating a potential upside of 10.51%. Given Pentair's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Pentair is more favorable than ESCO Technologies.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pentair	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.87
ESCO Technologies	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has higher earnings and valuation, PNR or ESE?

Pentair has higher revenue and earnings than ESCO Technologies. Pentair 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
Pentair	$4.08B	3.68	$625.40M	$3.74	24.36
ESCO Technologies	$1.06B	4.04	$101.88M	$4.26	38.77

Do insiders and institutionals believe in PNR or ESE?

92.4% of Pentair shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.7% of ESCO Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Pentair shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of ESCO Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Pentair beats ESCO Technologies on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.