Sherwin-Williams (SHW) Competitors

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) and Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW) are both large-cap basic materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend LIN or SHW?

Linde presently has a consensus price target of $515.90, suggesting a potential upside of 8.42%. Sherwin-Williams has a consensus price target of $391.31, suggesting a potential upside of 11.75%. Given Sherwin-Williams' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sherwin-Williams is more favorable than Linde.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Linde	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Sherwin-Williams	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.72

Is LIN or SHW more profitable?

Linde has a net margin of 20.02% compared to Sherwin-Williams' net margin of 11.63%. Sherwin-Williams' return on equity of 71.86% beat Linde's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Linde	20.02%	18.95%	9.26%
Sherwin-Williams	11.63%	71.86%	12.05%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of LIN or SHW?

82.8% of Linde shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.7% of Sherwin-Williams shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Linde shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Sherwin-Williams shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is LIN or SHW a better dividend stock?

Linde pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Sherwin-Williams pays an annual dividend of $3.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Linde pays out 43.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sherwin-Williams pays out 29.9% 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. Linde has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Sherwin-Williams has raised its dividend for 48 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to LIN or SHW?

In the previous week, Linde had 2 more articles in the media than Sherwin-Williams. MarketBeat recorded 39 mentions for Linde and 37 mentions for Sherwin-Williams. Linde's average media sentiment score of 1.56 beat Sherwin-Williams' score of 1.44 indicating that Linde is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Linde	34 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Sherwin-Williams	33 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, LIN or SHW?

Linde has higher revenue and earnings than Sherwin-Williams. Sherwin-Williams is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Linde, 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
Linde	$33.01B	6.79	$6.57B	$13.77	34.56
Sherwin-Williams	$23.10B	3.80	$2.68B	$10.58	33.10

Which has more risk and volatility, LIN or SHW?

Linde has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sherwin-Williams has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Linde beats Sherwin-Williams on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.