Critical Comparison: MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) and JE Cleantech (NASDAQ:JCSE)

MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE:MSM) and JE Cleantech (NASDAQ:JCSE) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for MSC Industrial Direct and JE Cleantech, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MSC Industrial Direct	0	6	1	0	2.14
JE Cleantech	1	0	0	0	1.00

MSC Industrial Direct presently has a consensus target price of $90.33, suggesting a potential upside of 5.15%. Given MSC Industrial Direct’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe MSC Industrial Direct is more favorable than JE Cleantech.

Profitability

This table compares MSC Industrial Direct and JE Cleantech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MSC Industrial Direct	5.30%	14.99%	8.39%
JE Cleantech	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MSC Industrial Direct and JE Cleantech”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MSC Industrial Direct	$3.82 billion	1.25	$258.59 million	$3.54	24.27
JE Cleantech	$14.11 million	0.51	$30,000.00	N/A	N/A

MSC Industrial Direct has higher revenue and earnings than JE Cleantech.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

79.3% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of JE Cleantech shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.3% of MSC Industrial Direct shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 64.0% of JE Cleantech shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

MSC Industrial Direct has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JE Cleantech has a beta of 0.21, meaning that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

MSC Industrial Direct beats JE Cleantech on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MSC Industrial Direct

MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products and services in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company's MRO products include cutting tools, measuring instruments, tooling components, metalworking products, fasteners, flat stock products, raw materials, abrasives, machinery hand and power tools, safety and janitorial supplies, plumbing supplies, materials handling products, power transmission components, and electrical supplies. It offers stock-keeping units through its catalogs and brochures; e-commerce channels, including its website, mscdirect.com; inventory management solutions; and customer care centers, customer fulfillment centers, regional inventory centers, and warehouses. The company serves individual machine shops, manufacturing companies, and government agencies. MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.

About JE Cleantech

JE Cleantech Holdings Limited, an investment holding company, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells cleaning systems for various industrial end-use applications in Singapore, Malaysia, and internationally. It provides various cleaning systems and other equipment, including aqueous washing systems, plating and cleaning systems, train cleaning systems, and filtration units, as well as equipment parts and components. The company also offers centralized dishwashing services for food and beverage establishments, such as food courts, hawker centers, restaurants, cookhouses, eldercare homes, and inflight catering service provider, as well as general cleaning services for food courts and hawker centers. In addition, it leases dishware washing equipment. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Singapore. JE Cleantech Holdings Limited is a subsidiary of JE Cleantech Global Limited.