Head-To-Head Comparison: Geberit (OTCMKTS:GBERY) & Lennox International (NYSE:LII)

Lennox International (NYSE:LII) and Geberit (OTCMKTS:GBERY) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Dividends

Lennox International pays an annual dividend of $4.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Geberit pays an annual dividend of $0.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Lennox International pays out 26.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Geberit pays out 35.4% 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. Lennox International has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. Lennox International is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Lennox International and Geberit, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lennox International	1	6	6	0	2.38
Geberit	0	0	0	0	N/A

Lennox International presently has a consensus target price of $543.62, indicating a potential downside of 5.44%. Given Lennox International’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lennox International is more favorable than Geberit.

Profitability

This table compares Lennox International and Geberit’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lennox International	12.85%	198.36%	23.19%
Geberit	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lennox International and Geberit’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lennox International	$5.02 billion	4.08	$590.10 million	$17.26	33.31
Geberit	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.26	49.93

Lennox International has higher revenue and earnings than Geberit. Lennox International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Geberit, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.1% of Lennox International shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.4% of Lennox International shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Lennox International beats Geberit on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lennox International

Lennox International Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets a range of products for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration markets in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The Home Comfort Solutions segment provides furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, packaged heating and cooling systems, indoor air quality equipment, comfort control products, and replacement parts and supplies; residential heating, ventilation, cooling equipment, and air conditioning; and evaporator coils and unit heaters under Lennox, Dave Lennox Signature Collection, Armstrong Air, Ducane, AirEase, Concord, MagicPak, Advanced Distributor Products, Allied, Elite Series, Merit Series, Comfort Sync, Healthy Climate, iComfort, ComfortSense, and Lennox Stores name. The Building Climate Solutions segment offers unitary heating and air conditioning equipment, applied systems, controls, installation and service of commercial heating and cooling equipment, variable refrigerant flow commercial, curb, curb adapters, drop box diffusers, HVAC recycling, and salvage service. This segment also provides condensing units, unit coolers, fluid coolers, air cooled condensers, air handlers, and refrigeration rack systems for preserving food and other perishables; and compressor racks and industrial process chillers under the Lennox, Model L, CORE, Enlight, Xion, Energence, Prodigy, Strategos, Raider, Lennox VRF, Lennox National Account Services, Allied Commercial, Elite, AES Industries, Mechanical, and Reclaim, Heatcraft Worldwide and Chandler Refrigeration, Bohn, MAGNA, Larkin, FriguaBohn, IntelliGen, and Interlink brand name. In addition, the company provides small package units, rooftop units, chillers, air handlers, and fan coils. It sells its products and services through direct sales, distributors, and company-owned parts and supplies stores. The company was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Richardson, Texas.

About Geberit

Geberit AG develops, produces, and distributes sanitary products and systems for the residential and commercial construction industry in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers installation and flushing systems, such as installation technology and flushing systems for toilets, including cisterns and fittings; and piping systems consisting of building drainage and supply systems, as well as piping technology for use in buildings for drinking water, heating, gas, and other media. It also provides bathroom systems product comprising bathroom ceramics, furniture, showers, bathtubs, taps and controls, and shower toilets. The company sells its products under the Geberit brand name. It sells its products to wholesalers, plumbers, architects, and sanitary engineers. Geberit AG was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland.