Comparing Griffon (GFF) and Its Competitors

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) is one of 93 public companies in the “Building Products” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Griffon to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

73.2% of Griffon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.6% of shares of all “Building Products” companies are held by institutional investors. 10.2% of Griffon shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.2% of shares of all “Building Products” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Griffon has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Griffon’s peers have a beta of 1.07, meaning that their average share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Griffon pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Griffon pays out 22.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Building Products” companies pay a dividend yield of 7.0% and pay out 37.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Griffon has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Griffon and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Griffon	0	1	2	1	3.00
Griffon Competitors	745	3944	5080	241	2.48

Griffon presently has a consensus price target of $122.50, indicating a potential upside of 16.47%. As a group, “Building Products” companies have a potential upside of 26.40%. Given Griffon’s peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Griffon has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Griffon and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Griffon	$2.52 billion	$51.11 million	26.83
Griffon Competitors	$4.00 billion	$4.65 billion	38.86

Griffon’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Griffon. Griffon 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.

Profitability

This table compares Griffon and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Griffon	8.08%	249.31%	12.64%
Griffon Competitors	3.72%	-38.16%	5.06%

Summary

Griffon beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation is a diversified management and holding company whose businesses make products for homes, buildings, gardens and outdoor spaces. Its operations are organized into Home and Building Products and Consumer and Professional Products. The Home and Building Products segment includes Clopay, which makes residential and commercial garage doors, and CornellCookson, which produces rolling steel doors and security grilles. The Consumer and Professional Products segment sells lawn and garden tools, landscaping products and home organization products through brands including AMES, True Temper and ClosetMaid.