Critical Survey: Johnson Controls International (JCI) and Its Competitors

Johnson Controls International (NYSE:JCI) is one of 93 publicly-traded companies in the “Building Products” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Johnson Controls International to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Johnson Controls International and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Johnson Controls International	1	10	11	1	2.52
Johnson Controls International Competitors	740	3938	5067	239	2.48

Johnson Controls International presently has a consensus price target of $166.86, indicating a potential upside of 23.80%. As a group, “Building Products” companies have a potential upside of 30.46%. Given Johnson Controls International’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Johnson Controls International has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.0% of Johnson Controls International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.6% of shares of all “Building Products” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Johnson Controls International shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.2% of shares of all “Building Products” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Johnson Controls International has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Johnson Controls International’s competitors have a beta of 1.07, meaning that their average share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Johnson Controls International and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Johnson Controls International	11.12%	23.38%	8.12%
Johnson Controls International Competitors	3.95%	-38.96%	5.04%

Dividends

Johnson Controls International pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Johnson Controls International pays out 34.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Building Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 7.2% and pay out 37.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Johnson Controls International has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Johnson Controls International and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Johnson Controls International	$25.67 billion	$2.85 billion	28.80
Johnson Controls International Competitors	$4.02 billion	$4.65 billion	36.50

Johnson Controls International has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Johnson Controls International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Johnson Controls International beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Johnson Controls International Company Profile

Johnson Controls International plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in engineering, manufacturing, commissioning, and retrofitting building products and systems in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in four segments: Building Solutions North America, Building Solutions EMEA/LA, Building Solutions Asia Pacific, and Global Products. The company designs, sells, installs, and services heating, ventilating, air conditioning, controls, building management, refrigeration, integrated electronic security, integrated fire detection and suppression systems, and fire protection and security products for commercial, industrial, retail, small business, institutional, and governmental customers. It also provides energy efficiency solutions and technical services, including inspection, scheduled maintenance, and repair and replacement of mechanical and control systems, as well as data-driven smart building solutions to non-residential building and industrial applications. In addition, the company offers control software and software services for residential and commercial applications. Johnson Controls International plc was incorporated in 1885 and is headquartered in Cork, Ireland.