Columbus McKinnon (NASDAQ:CMCO) & Omega Flex (NASDAQ:OFLX) Head to Head Survey

Omega Flex (NASDAQ:OFLX) and Columbus McKinnon (NASDAQ:CMCO) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

36.1% of Omega Flex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.0% of Columbus McKinnon shares are owned by institutional investors. 65.2% of Omega Flex shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Columbus McKinnon shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Omega Flex and Columbus McKinnon, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Omega Flex	1	0	0	0	1.00
Columbus McKinnon	1	1	1	2	2.80

Columbus McKinnon has a consensus price target of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 29.65%. Given Columbus McKinnon’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Columbus McKinnon is more favorable than Omega Flex.

Profitability

This table compares Omega Flex and Columbus McKinnon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Omega Flex	12.27%	14.26%	11.54%
Columbus McKinnon	-21.25%	10.02%	2.36%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Omega Flex and Columbus McKinnon”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Omega Flex	$98.30 million	2.63	$14.83 million	$1.19	21.50
Columbus McKinnon	$1.19 billion	0.43	-$229.54 million	($7.46)	-2.38

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

Volatility & Risk

Omega Flex has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbus McKinnon has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Omega Flex pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Columbus McKinnon pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Omega Flex pays out 114.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Columbus McKinnon pays out -3.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Omega Flex has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Omega Flex is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Omega Flex beats Columbus McKinnon on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Omega Flex

Omega Flex, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells flexible metal hoses and accessories in North America and internationally. It offers flexible gas piping for use in residential and commercial buildings; fittings; containment pining; and corrugated medical tubing for use in hospitals, ambulatory care centers, dental, physician and veterinary clinics, laboratories, and other facilities. The company sells its products under the TracPipe, CounterStrike, AutoSnap, AutoFlare, DoubleTrac, DEF-Trac, and MediTrac brand names. It serves various markets, including construction, manufacturing, transportation, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and other industries. The company sells its products through independent sales representatives, distributors, fabricating distributors, wholesalers, original equipment manufacturers, and direct sales, as well as through its website. The company was formerly known as Tofle America, Inc. and changed its name to Omega Flex, Inc. in 1996. Omega Flex, Inc. was incorporated in 1975 and is based in Exton, Pennsylvania.

About Columbus McKinnon

Columbus McKinnon Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets motion solutions for moving, lifting, positioning, and securing materials worldwide. It offers manual, battery, electric, and air hoists; steel, rack, and pinion jacks; winches, hydraulic jacks and tools, trolleys and its clamps, and lifting tables; skates and heavy load moving systems; material handling equipment; mobile, workplace, and jib cranes; crane components and kits; and below-the-hook lifting devices, lifting slings, and lashing systems. The company also provides linear motion products, elevator and mining drives, brakes, radio controls, collision avoidance systems, regenerative drives, AC and DC drive and motor control systems, DC motor and magnet control systems, and conductor bar systems; and underfloor lifting systems, lifting jacks, roof working platforms, hybrid lifting systems, turntables, bogie axle exchange and lifting systems, bogie lift and turn devices, and workshop equipment. In addition, it offers fabric and modular belt, and sanitary, stainless steel conveyors; pallet systems; parts and belts; rotary unions and swivel joints; check valves; accumulation and transfer tables, motion control systems, and steel and flexible chains; hooks, shackles, textile slings, clamps, and load binders; actuators and rotary unions; and push button pendant stations, collision avoidance, and power delivery subsystems. It serves EV production and aerospace, energy and utilities, process industries, industrial automation, construction and infrastructure, food and beverage, entertainment, life sciences, consumer packaged goods, and e-commerce/supply chain/warehousing markets. It offers its products to end users directly, and through distributors, independent crane builders, material handling specialists and integrators, original equipment manufacturers, government agencies, and engineering procurement and construction firms. The company was founded in 1875 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.