Head-To-Head Contrast: GEA Group (GEAGF) vs. The Competition

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

51.8% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by institutional investors. 14.2% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

GEA Group has a beta of 0.17, meaning that its share price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GEA Group’s competitors have a beta of 4.60, meaning that their average share price is 360% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GEA Group	7.70%	18.21%	7.52%
GEA Group Competitors	-1,044.43%	-15.08%	0.57%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares GEA Group and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
GEA Group	$6.22 billion	$468.41 million	30.54
GEA Group Competitors	$4.61 billion	$364.05 million	5.03

GEA Group has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. GEA Group 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for GEA Group and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GEA Group	0	1	0	1	3.00
GEA Group Competitors	4206	14708	18216	808	2.41

As a group, “Machinery” companies have a potential upside of 35.32%. Given GEA Group’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe GEA Group has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Summary

GEA Group beats its competitors on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About GEA Group

GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft engages in the development and production of systems and components to the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries. It operates through Separation & Flow Technologies, Liquid & Power Technologies, Food & Health Technologies, Farm Technologies, and Heating & Refrigeration Technologies segments. The Separation & Flow Technologies segment manufacture process-related components and machinery including notably separators, decanters, homogenizers, valves, and pumps. The Liquid & Power Technologies segment offers brewing systems, liquid processing and filling, concentration, precision fermentation, crystallization, purification, drying, powder handling, and packaging, as well as systems for emission control for dairy, beverage, food, chemical, and other industries. The Food & Health Technologies segment engages in the preparation, marination, and processing of meat, poultry, seafood, and vegan products, pasta and confectionery products, baking, slicing, packaging, and frozen food processing for food processing industry; and provides tablet presses for pharmaceutical industry. The Farm Technologies segment offers customer solution for milk production and livestock farming, which includes automatic milking and feeding system, conventional milking solutions, manure handling, and digital herd management tool. The Heating & Refrigeration Technologies segment provides energy solution in the field of industrial refrigeration and heating for an array of industries including food, beverage, dairy, and oil and gas. The company was formerly known as mg technologies ag and changed its name to GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft in 2005. GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.