Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) versus Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) Financial Review

Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) and Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation and risk.

Risk & Volatility

Oshkosh has a beta of 1.27, indicating that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Astec Industries has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.4% of Oshkosh shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of Astec Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Oshkosh shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Astec Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Oshkosh and Astec Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oshkosh	5.24%	12.95%	5.86%
Astec Industries	1.26%	10.26%	5.01%

Dividends

Oshkosh pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Astec Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Oshkosh pays out 26.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Astec Industries pays out 61.2% 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. Oshkosh has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Oshkosh 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 ratings and recommmendations for Oshkosh and Astec Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oshkosh	0	6	11	0	2.65
Astec Industries	1	1	0	2	2.75

Oshkosh currently has a consensus target price of $170.71, suggesting a potential upside of 26.01%. Given Oshkosh’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Oshkosh is more favorable than Astec Industries.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Oshkosh and Astec Industries”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oshkosh	$10.42 billion	0.80	$647.00 million	$8.74	15.50
Astec Industries	$1.41 billion	0.68	$38.80 million	$0.85	48.68

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

Summary

Oshkosh beats Astec Industries on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oshkosh

Oshkosh Corporation provides purpose-built vehicles and equipment worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Access, Defense, and Vocational segment. Its Access Equipment segment design and manufacture aerial work platform and telehandlers for use in construction, industrial, and maintenance applications; offers financing and leasing solutions including rental fleet loans, leases, and floor plan and retail financing; and towing and recovery equipment, which includes carriers, wreckers, and rotators, as well as provides equipment installation and sale of chassis and service parts. The Defense segment engages in the manufacture and sale of heavy, medium, and light tactical wheeled vehicles and related services for department of defense. Its Vocational segment offers custom and commercial firefighting equipment, fire apparatus, and emergency vehicles, including pumpers, aerial platform, ladder and tiller trucks, and tankers; light, medium, and heavy-duty rescue vehicles; and wildland rough terrain response, bomb squad, hazardous materials control vehicles, mobile command and control centers, and other emergency response vehicles. Additionally, this segment produces and sells custom and commercial firefighting vehicles, as well as command vehicles, ARFF vehicles; design and manufacture refuse collection vehicles for waste services industry; front discharge concrete mixers for the concrete ready-mix industry; and field service vehicles and truck-mounted cranes for construction, equipment dealer, building supply, utility, tire service, railroad, and mining industries. Further, the company provides its products through direct sales representatives, dealers, and distributors. Oshkosh Corporation was formerly known as Oshkosh Truck Corporation. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

About Astec Industries

Astec Industries, Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets equipment and components used primarily in road building and related construction activities worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Infrastructure Solutions and Materials Solutions. The Infrastructure Solutions segment offers asphalt plants and related components, heaters, concrete dust control systems, asphalt pavers, vaporizers, concrete material handling systems, screeds, heat recovery units, paste back-fill plants, asphalt storage tanks, hot oil heaters, bagging plants, fuel storage tanks, industrial and asphalt burners and systems, custom batch plants, material transfer vehicles, soil stabilizing-reclaiming machinery, blower trucks and trailers, milling machines, soil remediation plants, wood chippers and grinders, pump trailers, concrete batch plants, control systems, liquid terminals, storage equipment and related parts, construction and retrofits, polymer plants, and concrete mixers, as well as engineering and environmental permitting services. This segment provides its products to asphalt producers; highway and heavy equipment contractors; utility contractors; sand and gravel producers; construction, demolition, recycle and crushing contractors; forestry and environmental recycling contractors; mine and quarry operators; port and inland terminal authorities; power stations; and domestic and foreign government agencies. The Materials Solutions segment designs and manufactures crushing equipment, mobile plants, bulk material handling solutions, vibrating equipment, screening equipment, electrical control centers, modular plants and systems, conveying equipment, plant automation products, portable plants, and mineral processing equipment, as well as offers consulting and engineering services. The company was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee.