Financial Survey: DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ:DXPE) & Chart Industries (NYSE:GTLS)

Chart Industries (NYSE:GTLS) and DXP Enterprises (NASDAQ:DXPE) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Chart Industries has a beta of 1.53, suggesting that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DXP Enterprises has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.8% of DXP Enterprises shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Chart Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.7% of DXP Enterprises shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Chart Industries and DXP Enterprises, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chart Industries	2	11	0	0	1.85
DXP Enterprises	0	2	2	0	2.50

Chart Industries currently has a consensus target price of $201.80, suggesting a potential downside of 2.33%. DXP Enterprises has a consensus target price of $154.00, suggesting a potential downside of 8.83%. Given Chart Industries’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chart Industries is more favorable than DXP Enterprises.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Chart Industries and DXP Enterprises”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chart Industries	$4.26 billion	2.32	$40.70 million	$0.26	794.68
DXP Enterprises	$2.02 billion	1.30	$88.68 million	$5.35	31.57

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

Profitability

This table compares Chart Industries and DXP Enterprises’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chart Industries	-0.62%	10.50%	3.65%
DXP Enterprises	4.27%	18.16%	5.70%

Summary

DXP Enterprises beats Chart Industries on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chart Industries

Chart Industries, Inc. engages in the designing, engineering, and manufacturing of process technologies and equipment for the gas and liquid molecules in the United States and internationally. The company operates in four segments: Cryo Tank Solutions, Heat Transfer Systems, Specialty Products, and Repair, Service & Leasing. It provides bulk and packaged gas cryogenic solutions for the storage, distribution, vaporization, and application of industrial gases; cryogenic trailers, ISO containers, bulk storage tanks, loading facilities, and regasification equipment for delivering liquefied natural gas (LNG) into virtual pipeline applications; and large vacuum insulated storage tanks as equipment for purchasers of standard liquefaction plants. The company also offers natural gas processing solutions; process technology, liquefaction capabilities, and critical equipment for the LNG, include small to mid-scale facilities, floating LNG applications, and large base-load export facilities; brazed aluminum heat exchangers, Core-in-Kettle heat exchangers, cold boxes, air cooled heat exchangers, pressure vessels, and pipe works; and air cooled heat exchangers and axial cooling fans for the HVAC, power, and refining applications. Further, it provides extended warranties, plant start-up, parts, 24/7 support, monitoring and process optimization, repairing, maintenance, and upgrading services; plant services on equipment; and service locations that undertake installation, service, repair, maintenance, and refurbishment of cryogenic products, as well as equipment leasing solutions. Chart Industries, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Ball Ground, Georgia.

About DXP Enterprises

DXP Enterprises, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in distributing maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) products, equipment, and services in the United States and Canada. It operates through three segments: Service Centers (SC), Supply Chain Services (SCS), and Innovative Pumping Solutions (IPS). The SC segment offers MRO products, equipment, and integrated services, including technical expertise and logistics services. It offers a range of MRO products in the rotating equipment, bearing, power transmission, hose, fluid power, metal working, fastener, industrial supply, safety products, and safety services categories. This segment serves customers in the oil and gas, food and beverage, petrochemical, transportation, other general industrial, mining, construction, chemical, municipal, agriculture, and pulp and paper industries. The SCS segment manages procurement and inventory vinventory optimization and management, storeroom management, transaction consolidation and control, vendor oversight and procurement cost optimization, productivity improvement, and customized reporting services. Its programs include SmartAgreement, a procurement solution for various MRO categories; SmartBuy, an on-site or centralized MRO procurement solution; SmartSource, an on-site procurement and storeroom management solution; SmartStore, an e-Catalog solution; SmartVend, an industrial dispensing solution; and SmartServ, an integrated service pump solution. The IPS segment fabricates and assembles custom-made pump packages; remanufactures pumps; and manufactures branded private label pumps. DXP Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1908 and is based in Houston, Texas.