Contrasting Lennox International (NYSE:LII) & Worthington Enterprises (NYSE:WOR)

Worthington Enterprises (NYSE:WOR) and Lennox International (NYSE:LII) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Worthington Enterprises has a beta of 1.29, suggesting that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lennox International has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Worthington Enterprises pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Lennox International pays an annual dividend of $5.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Worthington Enterprises pays out 24.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lennox International pays out 24.6% 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 raised its dividend for 16 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 recent recommendations and price targets for Worthington Enterprises and Lennox International, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Worthington Enterprises	0	1	1	0	2.50
Lennox International	2	10	5	0	2.18

Worthington Enterprises presently has a consensus target price of $75.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.16%. Lennox International has a consensus target price of $522.85, indicating a potential upside of 46.02%. Given Lennox International’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lennox International is more favorable than Worthington Enterprises.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Worthington Enterprises and Lennox International”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Worthington Enterprises	$1.38 billion	2.14	$156.09 million	$3.31	18.25
Lennox International	$5.20 billion	2.38	$805.80 million	$22.12	16.19

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Worthington Enterprises	11.50%	16.71%	9.29%
Lennox International	14.61%	66.42%	19.16%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

51.6% of Worthington Enterprises shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.1% of Lennox International shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Worthington Enterprises shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of Lennox International shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Lennox International beats Worthington Enterprises on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Worthington Enterprises

Worthington Enterprises, Inc. operates as an industrial manufacturing company. It operates through three segments: Building Products, Consumer Products, and Sustainable Energy Solutions. The Building Products segment sells refrigerant and LPG cylinders, well water and expansion tanks, fire suppression tanks, chemical tanks, and foam and adhesive tanks for gas producers, and distributors. The Consumer Products segment provides products in the tools, outdoor living, and celebrations end markets. Its products include propane-filled cylinders for torches, camping stoves and other applications, LPG cylinders, handheld torches, helium-filled balloon kits, specialized hand tools and instruments, and drywall tools and accessories This segment sells its products primarily to mass merchandisers, retailers, and distributors under the Coleman, Bernzomatic, Balloon Time, Mag-Torch, General, Garden-Weasel, Pactool International, Hawkeye, Worthington Pro Grade, and Level5 brands. The Sustainable Energy Solutions segment sells onboard fueling systems and services, as well as gas containment solutions and services for storage, transport, and distribution of industrial gases. It includes high pressure and acetylene cylinders for life support systems and alternative fuel cylinders used to hold CNG and hydrogen for automobiles, buses, and light-duty trucks. The company was formerly known as Worthington Industries, Inc. Worthington Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

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.