Comparing Griffon (NYSE:GFF) and Modine Manufacturing (NYSE:MOD)

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) and Modine Manufacturing (NYSE:MOD) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Griffon and Modine Manufacturing, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Griffon	0	1	1	2	3.25
Modine Manufacturing	0	2	7	0	2.78

Griffon presently has a consensus price target of $122.50, suggesting a potential upside of 21.87%. Modine Manufacturing has a consensus price target of $320.14, suggesting a potential upside of 61.66%. Given Modine Manufacturing’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Modine Manufacturing is more favorable than Griffon.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Griffon and Modine Manufacturing”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Griffon	$2.56 billion	1.78	$51.11 million	$3.92	25.64
Modine Manufacturing	$3.18 billion	3.31	$121.50 million	$2.66	74.45

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

Profitability

This table compares Griffon and Modine Manufacturing’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Griffon	8.08%	249.31%	12.64%
Modine Manufacturing	4.28%	25.59%	11.39%

Volatility and Risk

Griffon has a beta of 1.44, meaning that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Modine Manufacturing has a beta of 1.71, meaning that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

73.2% of Griffon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.2% of Modine Manufacturing shares are held by institutional investors. 10.2% of Griffon shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Modine Manufacturing shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Modine Manufacturing beats Griffon on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides consumer and professional, and home and building products in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Home and Building Products, and Consumer and Professional Products. The Home and Building Products segment manufactures and markets residential and commercial sectional garage doors, rolling steel service doors, fire doors, shutters, steel security grilles, and room dividers for the use in commercial construction and repair, and home remodeling applications. The segment also sells related products, such as garage door openers. The Consumer and Professional Products segment manufactures and markets long-handled engineered tools, including spades, hoes, cultivators, weeders, post hole diggers, scrapers, edgers and forks; wheelbarrows and lawn carts; snow tools comprising pushers, roof rakes, sled sleigh shovels, scoops, and ice scrapers; and pruning products, such as pruners, loppers, shears, and other tools. The segment also offers striking tools, including axes, picks, mattocks, mauls, wood splitters, sledgehammers, pry bars, and repair handles; traditional and gardening hand tools comprising hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, adjustable wrenches, handsaws, tape measures, levels, clamps, trowels, cultivators, weeders, and other hand tools; indoor and outdoor planters and lawn accessories; and garden hoses and hose reels. In addition, the segment provides home organization products, including wire and wood shelving, containers, storage cabinets, and other closet and home organization accessories; residential, industrial, and commercial fans; and cleaning products, such as brooms, brushes, squeegees, and other cleaning products. The company was formerly known as Instrument Systems Corporation and changed its name to Griffon Corporation in June 1992. Griffon Corporation was founded in 1774 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Modine Manufacturing

Modine Manufacturing Company provides thermal management products and solutions in the United States, Italy, Hungary, China, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through Climate Solutions and Performance Technologies segments. The company offers heat transfer coils, including heat recovery and round tube plate fin coils; gas-fired, hydronic, electric and oilfired unit heaters; roof-mounted direct- and indirect-fired makeup air units; duct furnaces; infrared units; perimeter heating products; single packaged unit ventilators; modular chillers; air handler and condensing units; ceiling cassettes; evaporator unit coolers, remote condensers, fluid coolers, gas coolers, and dry and brine coolers; and motor and generator cooling coils, transformer oil coolers, radiators, dryers, and industrial heat exchangers. It also provides data center products consisting of IT cooling solutions, including precision air conditioning units for data center applications; computer room air conditioning and handler units; hybrid fan coils; fan walls; chillers; condensers; condensing units; and liquid cooling solutions for high-density computing, as well as replacement parts, maintenance service and control solutions for existing equipment and new building management controls and systems. In addition, the company offers powertrain cooling products, such as radiators, condensers, engine cooling modules, charge air coolers, fan shrouds, and surge tanks; cooling module generator sets; aluminum and stainless steel engine oil coolers, exhaust gas recirculation coolers, liquid charge air coolers, transmission and retarder oil coolers, and chillers; battery thermal management systems, electronics cooling packages, battery chillers, battery cooling plates, coolers and casings for electronics cooling, and coolers for electric axles; and coatings products and application services. Modine Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1916 and is headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin.