Brady (NYSE:BRC) vs. DCC (OTCMKTS:DCCPF) Critical Contrast

DCC (OTCMKTS:DCCPF) and Brady (NYSE:BRC) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

DCC has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brady has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for DCC and Brady, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DCC	1	2	1	0	2.00
Brady	0	0	2	0	3.00

Brady has a consensus target price of $103.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.21%. Given Brady’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Brady is more favorable than DCC.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares DCC and Brady”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DCC	$20.70 billion	0.40	$17.90 million	N/A	N/A
Brady	$1.51 billion	2.83	$189.26 million	$4.39	20.72

Brady has lower revenue, but higher earnings than DCC.

Profitability

This table compares DCC and Brady’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DCC	N/A	N/A	N/A
Brady	12.93%	19.01%	13.47%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

76.3% of Brady shares are held by institutional investors. 15.6% of Brady shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Brady beats DCC on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About DCC

DCC plc provides sales, marketing, and support services worldwide. The company operates through DCC Energy, DCC Healthcare, and DCC Technology segments. It sells and markets liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), refrigerants, and natural gas; markets, sells, and retails transport and commercial fuels, heating oils, and related products and services; operates retail petrol stations; resells fuel cards; distributes oil; and provides logistics services. It also offers products and services to healthcare providers, and health and beauty brand owners; contract manufacturing services to the health and beauty sector; nutrition products, such as vitamins and health supplements; beauty products; and product development, formulation, manufacturing, and packaging services. In, addition it distributes consumer technology products, including smart home products, peripherals and software, and accessories, as well as provides supply chain services. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

About Brady

Brady Corporation manufactures and supplies identification solutions (IDS) and workplace safety (WPS) products to identify and protect premises, products, and people in the United States and internationally. The company offers materials, printing systems, RFID, and bar code scanners for product identification, brand protection labeling, work in process labeling, finished product identification, and industrial track and trace applications; safety signs, floor-marking tapes, pipe markers, labeling systems, spill control products, lockout/tagout device, and software and services for safety compliance auditing, procedure writing, and training; and hand-held printers, wire markers, sleeves, and tags for wire identification. It also provides name tags, badges, lanyards, rigid card printing systems, and access control software for people identification; and wristbands, labels, printing systems, and other products for tracking and improving the safety of patients. In addition, the company offers workplace safety, identification, and compliance products, such as safety and compliance signs, tags, labels, and markings; informational signage and markings; asset tracking labels; facility safety and personal protection equipment; first-aid products; and other compliance products for process, government, education, construction, and utilities industries. Further, it provides stock and custom identification products; and sells related resale products. The company serves industrial and electronic manufacturing, healthcare, chemical, oil, gas, automotive, aerospace, governments, mass transit, electrical contractors, education, leisure and entertainment, telecommunications, and other industries through distributors, direct sales force, and digital channels. Brady Corporation was incorporated in 1914 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.