Reviewing Manitowoc (NYSE:MTW) and Taylor Devices (NASDAQ:TAYD)

Manitowoc (NYSE:MTW) and Taylor Devices (NASDAQ:TAYD) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

78.7% of Manitowoc shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.6% of Taylor Devices shares are held by institutional investors. 4.0% of Manitowoc shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.7% of Taylor Devices shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Manitowoc has a beta of 1.74, suggesting that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Taylor Devices has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Manitowoc and Taylor Devices, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Manitowoc	2	1	0	0	1.33
Taylor Devices	0	3	0	1	2.50

Manitowoc presently has a consensus target price of $14.00, indicating a potential downside of 37.04%. Taylor Devices has a consensus target price of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.03%. Given Taylor Devices’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Taylor Devices is more favorable than Manitowoc.

Profitability

This table compares Manitowoc and Taylor Devices’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Manitowoc	0.87%	3.86%	1.43%
Taylor Devices	17.50%	9.64%	8.90%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Manitowoc and Taylor Devices”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Manitowoc	$2.24 billion	0.36	$7.20 million	$0.55	40.43
Taylor Devices	$39.03 million	4.64	$8.56 million	$2.07	27.06

Taylor Devices has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Manitowoc. Taylor Devices is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Manitowoc, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Taylor Devices beats Manitowoc on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Manitowoc

The Manitowoc Company, Inc. provides engineered lifting solutions in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It designs, manufactures, and distributes crawler-mounted lattice-boom cranes under the Manitowoc brand; a line of top-slewing and self-erecting tower cranes under the Potain brand; mobile hydraulic cranes under the Grove, Shuttlelift, and National Crane brands; and hydraulic boom trucks under the National Crane brand. The company also provides aftermarket services, such as sale of parts and accessories, field service work, routine maintenance services, technical support, erection and decommissioning services, crane and component remanufacturing, training, and telematics services. Its crane products are used in various applications, including energy production/distribution and utilities; petrochemical and industrial; infrastructure, such as road, bridge, and airport construction; and commercial and residential construction. The company serves a range of customers, including dealers, rental companies, contractors, and government entities in the petrochemical, industrial, commercial construction, power and utilities, infrastructure, and residential construction end markets. The Manitowoc Company, Inc. was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

About Taylor Devices

Taylor Devices, Inc. engages in design, development, manufacture, and marketing of shock absorption, rate control, and energy storage devices for use in machinery, equipment, and structures in the United States, Asia, and internationally. Its products include seismic dampers that are designed to mitigate the effects of earthquakes on structures; Fluidicshoks, which are compact shock absorbers primarily used in defense, aerospace, and commercial industries; and crane and industrial buffers, which are larger versions of the Fluidicshoks for industrial application on cranes and crane trolleys, truck docks, ladle and ingot cars, ore trolleys, and train car stops. The company's products also comprise self-adjusting shock absorbers that include versions of Fluidicshoks, and crane and industrial buffers, which automatically adjust to various impact conditions and are designed for high cycle application primarily in the heavy industry; liquid die springs that are used as component parts of machinery and equipment used in the manufacture of tools and dies; vibration dampers, which are primarily used by aerospace and defense industries to control the response of electronics and optical systems subjected to air, ship, or spacecraft vibration; machined springs used in the aerospace applications; and custom actuators for special aerospace and defense applications. It markets its products through a network of sales representatives and distributors. The company was incorporated in 1955 and is headquartered in North Tonawanda, New York.