Critical Comparison: Art’s-Way Manufacturing (ARTW) versus Its Peers

Art’s-Way Manufacturing (NASDAQ:ARTW) is one of 436 publicly-traded companies in the “Machinery” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Art’s-Way Manufacturing to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Art’s-Way Manufacturing and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Art’s-Way Manufacturing	-0.08%	-0.16%	-0.10%
Art’s-Way Manufacturing Competitors	-1,929.90%	-12.09%	0.74%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Art’s-Way Manufacturing and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Art’s-Way Manufacturing	$22.98 million	$1.03 million	-312.00
Art’s-Way Manufacturing Competitors	$4.49 billion	$348.45 million	-12.82

Art’s-Way Manufacturing’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Art’s-Way Manufacturing. Art’s-Way Manufacturing is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Art’s-Way Manufacturing and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Art’s-Way Manufacturing	1	0	0	0	1.00
Art’s-Way Manufacturing Competitors	4059	14473	17884	772	2.41

As a group, “Machinery” companies have a potential upside of 27.81%. Given Art’s-Way Manufacturing’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Art’s-Way Manufacturing has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

2.9% of Art’s-Way Manufacturing shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.6% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are owned by institutional investors. 51.5% of Art’s-Way Manufacturing shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.8% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Art’s-Way Manufacturing has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Art’s-Way Manufacturing’s peers have a beta of 4.50, suggesting that their average share price is 350% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Art’s-Way Manufacturing peers beat Art’s-Way Manufacturing on 10 of the 13 factors compared.

About Art’s-Way Manufacturing

Art’s-Way Manufacturing Co., Inc. manufactures and distributes farm equipment products. It operates through the Agricultural Products, and Modular Buildings segments. The Agricultural Products segment manufactures a variety of specialized farm machinery under its own label including portable and stationary animal feed processing equipment and related attachments used to mill and mix feed grains into custom animal feed rations, a line of forage equipment consisting of forage boxes, bale processors, running gear, and dump boxes, a line of manure spreaders, sugar beet harvesting equipment, and a line of dirt work equipment. The Modular Buildings segment produces and sells modular buildings, which are custom designed to meet the specific research needs of its customers. It also provides services relating to the design, manufacturing, delivery, installation and renting of the building units that it produces. The company was founded by Arthur Luscombe in 1956 and is headquartered in Armstrong, IA.