Alta Equipment Group (NYSE:ALTG) vs. GEA Group (OTCMKTS:GEAGF) Critical Survey

GEA Group (OTCMKTS:GEAGF) and Alta Equipment Group (NYSE:ALTG) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

GEA Group has a beta of 0.2, suggesting that its stock price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alta Equipment Group has a beta of 1.73, suggesting that its stock price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares GEA Group and Alta Equipment Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GEA Group	$6.22 billion	1.66	$468.31 million	$2.32	27.30
Alta Equipment Group	$1.84 billion	0.12	-$80.30 million	($2.53)	-2.79

GEA Group has higher revenue and earnings than Alta Equipment Group. Alta Equipment Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than GEA Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.6% of Alta Equipment Group shares are held by institutional investors. 20.5% of Alta Equipment Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares GEA Group and Alta Equipment Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GEA Group	7.49%	18.50%	7.55%
Alta Equipment Group	-4.33%	-3,253.61%	-5.70%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for GEA Group and Alta Equipment Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GEA Group	0	0	0	1	4.00
Alta Equipment Group	1	2	2	0	2.20

Alta Equipment Group has a consensus target price of $12.17, indicating a potential upside of 72.65%. Given Alta Equipment Group’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Alta Equipment Group is more favorable than GEA Group.

Summary

GEA Group beats Alta Equipment Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GEA Group

GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft engages in the development and production of systems and components to the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries. It operates through Separation & Flow Technologies, Liquid & Power Technologies, Food & Health Technologies, Farm Technologies, and Heating & Refrigeration Technologies segments. The Separation & Flow Technologies segment manufacture process-related components and machinery including notably separators, decanters, homogenizers, valves, and pumps. The Liquid & Power Technologies segment offers brewing systems, liquid processing and filling, concentration, precision fermentation, crystallization, purification, drying, powder handling, and packaging, as well as systems for emission control for dairy, beverage, food, chemical, and other industries. The Food & Health Technologies segment engages in the preparation, marination, and processing of meat, poultry, seafood, and vegan products, pasta and confectionery products, baking, slicing, packaging, and frozen food processing for food processing industry; and provides tablet presses for pharmaceutical industry. The Farm Technologies segment offers customer solution for milk production and livestock farming, which includes automatic milking and feeding system, conventional milking solutions, manure handling, and digital herd management tool. The Heating & Refrigeration Technologies segment provides energy solution in the field of industrial refrigeration and heating for an array of industries including food, beverage, dairy, and oil and gas. The company was formerly known as mg technologies ag and changed its name to GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft in 2005. GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.

About Alta Equipment Group

Alta Equipment Group Inc. owns and operates integrated equipment dealership platforms in the United States. It operates through three segments: Material Handling, Construction Equipment, and Master Distribution. The company operates a branch network that sells, rents, and provides parts and service support for various categories of specialized equipment, including lift trucks and other material handling equipment, heavy and compact earthmoving equipment, crushing and screening equipment, environmental processing equipment, cranes and aerial work platforms, paving and asphalt equipment, and other construction equipment and related products. It also offers repair and maintenance services for its equipment. In addition, the company designs and builds warehouses; provides automated equipment installation and system integration solutions; and distributes environmental processing equipment. It serves various manufacturing, food and beverage, automotive, municipal/government, education, pharmaceutical and medical, wholesale and retail distribution, construction, agriculture, road building, mining, recycling, and waste management sectors. Alta Equipment Group Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Livonia, Michigan.