Comparing Burnham (OTCMKTS:BURCA) & Parker-Hannifin (NYSE:PH)

Burnham (OTCMKTS:BURCA) and Parker-Hannifin (NYSE:PH) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Dividends

Burnham pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Parker-Hannifin pays an annual dividend of $8.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Burnham pays out -20.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Parker-Hannifin pays out 29.5% 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. Parker-Hannifin has increased its dividend for 70 consecutive years. Burnham is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Burnham and Parker-Hannifin, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Burnham	0	0	0	0	0.00
Parker-Hannifin	0	4	17	0	2.81

Parker-Hannifin has a consensus target price of $1,020.80, suggesting a potential upside of 19.81%. Given Parker-Hannifin’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Parker-Hannifin is more favorable than Burnham.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.5% of Burnham shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.4% of Parker-Hannifin shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Parker-Hannifin 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.

Volatility and Risk

Burnham has a beta of 0.14, meaning that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Parker-Hannifin has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Burnham and Parker-Hannifin’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Burnham	-7.96%	11.89%	7.37%
Parker-Hannifin	16.58%	27.97%	13.00%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Burnham and Parker-Hannifin”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Burnham	$258.11 million	0.34	-$21.45 million	($4.58)	-5.63
Parker-Hannifin	$19.85 billion	5.41	$3.53 billion	$27.11	31.43

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

Summary

Parker-Hannifin beats Burnham on 15 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Burnham

Burnham Holdings, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells boilers and related heating, ventilation, and air conditioning products and accessories for residential, commercial, and industrial applications in the United States and internationally. Its residential hydronic heating products include cast iron, stainless steel, and steel boilers; cast iron and steel heat distribution products; radiators; and warm air furnaces and central air conditioning systems for the residential heating and cooling markets, including units for the manufactured housing industry. The company's commercial and industrial heating products comprise a range of cast iron, stainless steel, fire tube, water tube, copper tube boilers, and water heaters; and boiler room accessories that are used for various applications, such as military bases, multi-unit residential buildings, health care, government, education, and hospital facilities. The company sells its residential products through wholesale distributors to builders, heating contractors, fuel dealers, and utilities for resale to end-use customers; and commercial products primarily through independent sales representatives, directly to contractors, or end users. Burnham Holdings, Inc. is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

About Parker-Hannifin

Parker-Hannifin Corporation manufactures and sells motion and control technologies and systems for various mobile, industrial, and aerospace markets worldwide. The company operates through two segments: Diversified Industrial and Aerospace Systems. The Diversified Industrial segment offers sealing, shielding, thermal products and systems, adhesives, coatings, and noise vibration and harshness solutions; filters, systems, and diagnostics solutions to ensure purity and remove contaminants from fuel, air, oil, water, and other liquids and gases; connectors used in fluid and gas handling; and hydraulic, pneumatic, and electromechanical components and systems for builders and users of mobile and industrial machinery and equipment. This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and distributors who serve the replacement markets in manufacturing, packaging, processing, transportation, construction, refrigeration and air conditioning, agricultural, and military machinery and equipment industries. The Aerospace Systems segment offers products for use in commercial and military airframe and engine programs, such as control actuation systems and components, engine build-up ducting, engine exhaust nozzles and assemblies, engine systems and components, fluid conveyance systems and components, fuel systems and components, fuel tank inerting systems, hydraulic systems and components, lubrication components, avionics, sensors, pneumatic control components, thermal management products, fire detection and suppression systems and components, and wheels and brakes, as well as fluid metering, delivery, and atomization devices. This segment markets its products directly to OEMs and end users. The company markets its products through direct-sales employees, independent distributors, and sales representatives. Parker-Hannifin Corporation was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.