Albany International (NYSE:AIN) vs. Hillman Solutions (NASDAQ:HLMN) Financial Review

Hillman Solutions (NASDAQ:HLMN) and Albany International (NYSE:AIN) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Hillman Solutions and Albany International, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hillman Solutions	1	1	2	1	2.60
Albany International	1	4	0	0	1.80

Hillman Solutions currently has a consensus price target of $12.67, suggesting a potential upside of 75.68%. Albany International has a consensus price target of $61.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.16%. Given Hillman Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Hillman Solutions is more favorable than Albany International.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Hillman Solutions and Albany International”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hillman Solutions	$1.55 billion	0.90	$40.31 million	$0.22	32.77
Albany International	$1.18 billion	1.45	-$57.34 million	($1.74)	-34.65

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.1% of Hillman Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.4% of Albany International shares are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of Hillman Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Albany International shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Hillman Solutions and Albany International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hillman Solutions	2.57%	9.11%	4.70%
Albany International	-4.18%	10.76%	4.64%

Risk & Volatility

Hillman Solutions has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albany International has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Hillman Solutions beats Albany International on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hillman Solutions

Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hillman is a leading North American provider of complete hardware solutions, delivered with industry best customer service to over 40,000 locations. Hillman designs innovative product and merchandising solutions for complex categories that deliver an outstanding customer experience to home improvement centers, mass merchants, national and regional hardware stores, pet supply stores, and OEM & Industrial customers. Leveraging a world-class distribution and sales network, Hillman delivers a “small business” experience with “big business” efficiency.

About Albany International

Albany International Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the machine clothing and engineered composites businesses. The company operates in two segments, Machine Clothing (MC) and Albany Engineered Composites (AEC). The MC segment designs, manufactures, and markets paper machine clothing for use in the manufacturing of papers, paperboards, tissues, towels, pulps, nonwovens, building products, tannery, and textiles, as well as fiber cement and several other industrial applications. This segment offers paper machine clothing forming, pressing, and drying fabrics, as well as engineered processing belts; and engineered fabrics. The AEC segment 3D-woven and injected composite components for aircraft engines composite airframe and engine components for military and commercial aircraft. It operates in the United States, Switzerland, France, Brazil, China, Mexico, Germany, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1895 and is headquartered in Rochester, New Hampshire.