Head to Head Comparison: Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) and Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM)

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) and Symbotic (NASDAQ:SYM) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Franklin Electric and Symbotic’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Franklin Electric	8.83%	15.45%	9.78%
Symbotic	0.48%	1.40%	0.41%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.0% of Franklin Electric shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Franklin Electric shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Symbotic shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Franklin Electric has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Symbotic has a beta of 2.06, suggesting that its stock price is 106% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Franklin Electric and Symbotic, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Franklin Electric	0	3	0	0	2.00
Symbotic	2	5	7	0	2.36

Franklin Electric currently has a consensus target price of $117.50, indicating a potential upside of 23.19%. Symbotic has a consensus target price of $65.83, indicating a potential upside of 73.57%. Given Symbotic’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Symbotic is more favorable than Franklin Electric.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Franklin Electric and Symbotic”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Franklin Electric	$2.13 billion	1.98	$147.09 million	$4.45	21.43
Symbotic	$2.25 billion	10.21	-$16.94 million	$0.09	421.44

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

Summary

Symbotic beats Franklin Electric on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Franklin Electric

Franklin Electric Co., Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and distributes water and fuel pumping systems worldwide. The company operates through Water Systems, Fueling Systems, and Distribution segments. The Water Systems segment offers submersible motors, drives, pumps, electronic controls, water treatment systems, monitoring devices, and related parts and equipment. Its motors and pumps are used principally for pumping clean water and wastewater in various residential, agricultural, municipal, and industrial applications; and manufactures electronic drives and controls that are used in motors for controlling functionality, as well as provides protection from various hazards, such as electrical surges, over-heating, and dry wells or tanks. The Fueling Systems segment provides pumps, pipes, sumps, fittings, vapor recovery components, electronic controls, monitoring devices, and related parts and equipment primarily for use in fueling system applications. This segment serves other energy markets, such as power reliability systems, as well as includes electronic devices for online monitoring of the power utility, hydroelectric, and telecommunication and data center infrastructure. The Distribution segment sells to and provides presale support and specifications to the installing contractors. It sells products produced by the Water Systems segment. The company sells its products to wholesale and retail distributors, specialty distributors, original equipment manufacturers, industrial and petroleum equipment distributors, and oil and utility companies through its employee sales force and independent manufacturing representatives. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

About Symbotic

Symbotic Inc., an automation technology company, engages in developing technologies to improve operating efficiencies in modern warehouses. The company automates the processing of pallets and cases in large warehouses or distribution centers for retail companies. Its systems enhance operations at the front end of the supply chain. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts.