Head to Head Survey: Eastern (EML) and Its Competitors

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) is one of 436 public companies in the “Machinery” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Eastern to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.0% of Eastern shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.8% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by institutional investors. 18.4% of Eastern shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.1% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Eastern and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern	0	2	0	0	2.00
Eastern Competitors	4215	14731	18259	809	2.41

As a group, “Machinery” companies have a potential upside of 30.91%. Given Eastern’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Eastern has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Eastern and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern	$248.97 million	$7.13 million	17.18
Eastern Competitors	$4.62 billion	$362.62 million	6.28

Eastern’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Eastern. Eastern is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Eastern pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Eastern pays out 24.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Machinery” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.8% and pay out 24.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Eastern and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern	4.30%	5.53%	3.05%
Eastern Competitors	-1,035.50%	-36.21%	-0.24%

Risk and Volatility

Eastern has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eastern’s competitors have a beta of 5.12, indicating that their average share price is 412% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Eastern competitors beat Eastern on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Eastern Company Profile

Eastern Company is a diversified manufacturer of engineered solutions and industrial products. Through its operating businesses, it supplies hardware and components used in commercial vehicles, industrial equipment, and security applications. Its products include access and latching systems, vehicle components, and other specialized hardware designed for original equipment manufacturers and aftermarket customers. The company has a long history dating to its founding in 1858 and serves customers in North America and other markets.