Critical Analysis: Pentair (NYSE:PNR) & Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK)

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) and Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pentair	$4.18 billion	2.54	$653.80 million	$3.77	17.60
Oshkosh	$10.42 billion	0.83	$647.00 million	$8.74	15.95

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.4% of Pentair shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Oshkosh shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Pentair shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Oshkosh shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Pentair has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oshkosh has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Pentair pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Oshkosh pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Pentair pays out 28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Oshkosh pays out 26.1% 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. Pentair has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years and Oshkosh has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Oshkosh is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Pentair and Oshkosh’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pentair	15.44%	20.10%	11.25%
Oshkosh	4.63%	11.69%	5.24%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Pentair and Oshkosh, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pentair	2	7	7	1	2.41
Oshkosh	1	5	11	0	2.59

Pentair presently has a consensus price target of $76.59, indicating a potential upside of 15.43%. Oshkosh has a consensus price target of $165.79, indicating a potential upside of 18.95%. Given Oshkosh’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Oshkosh is more favorable than Pentair.

About Pentair

Pentair plc provides various water solutions in the United States, Western Europe, China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, Canada, and Japan. The company operates through three segments: Flow, Water Solutions, and Pool. The Flow segment designs, manufactures, and sells fluid treatment and pump products and systems, including pressure vessels, gas recovery solutions, membrane bioreactors, wastewater reuse systems and advanced membrane filtration, separation systems, water disposal pumps, water supply pumps, fluid transfer pumps, turbine pumps, solid handling pumps, and agricultural spray nozzles for fluid delivery, ion exchange, desalination, food and beverage, separation technologies in the oil and gas industry, residential and municipal wells, water treatment, wastewater solids handling, pressure boosting, circulation and transfer, fire suppression, flood control, agricultural irrigation, and crop spray in residential, commercial, and industrial markets. The Water Solutions segment provides commercial and residential water treatment products and systems, including pressure tanks, control valves, activated carbon products, commercial ice machines, conventional filtration products, and point-of-entry and point-of-use water treatment systems, as well as installation and preventative services for use in residential whole home water filtration, drinking water filtration, and water softening solutions, as well as commercial total water management and filtration in foodservice operations. The Pool segment provides residential and commercial pool equipment and accessories comprising pumps, filters, heaters, lights, automatic controls, automatic cleaners, maintenance equipment, and pool accessories for applications in residential and commercial pool maintenance, pool repair, renovation, service, and construction and aquaculture solutions. Pentair plc was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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.