Griffon (NYSE:GFF) and Carlisle Companies (NYSE:CSL) Financial Comparison

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) and Carlisle Companies (NYSE:CSL) are both multi-sector conglomerates companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Griffon and Carlisle Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Griffon	2.03%	181.66%	11.95%
Carlisle Companies	15.48%	40.26%	15.14%

Dividends

Griffon pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Carlisle Companies pays an annual dividend of $4.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Griffon pays out 88.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Carlisle Companies pays out 25.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Griffon has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Carlisle Companies has increased its dividend for 48 consecutive years. Carlisle Companies is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Griffon and Carlisle Companies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Griffon	1	1	3	3	3.00
Carlisle Companies	1	5	4	0	2.30

Griffon currently has a consensus price target of $95.60, indicating a potential upside of 12.86%. Carlisle Companies has a consensus price target of $386.67, indicating a potential upside of 6.08%. Given Griffon’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Griffon is more favorable than Carlisle Companies.

Risk and Volatility

Griffon has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carlisle Companies has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Griffon and Carlisle Companies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Griffon	$2.52 billion	1.57	$51.11 million	$1.00	84.71
Carlisle Companies	$5.00 billion	3.04	$1.31 billion	$17.63	20.67

Carlisle Companies has higher revenue and earnings than Griffon. Carlisle Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Griffon, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.2% of Griffon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of Carlisle Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 10.2% of Griffon shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Carlisle Companies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Carlisle Companies beats Griffon on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides consumer and professional, and home and building products in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Home and Building Products, and Consumer and Professional Products. The Home and Building Products segment manufactures and markets residential and commercial sectional garage doors, rolling steel service doors, fire doors, shutters, steel security grilles, and room dividers for the use in commercial construction and repair, and home remodeling applications. The segment also sells related products, such as garage door openers. The Consumer and Professional Products segment manufactures and markets long-handled engineered tools, including spades, hoes, cultivators, weeders, post hole diggers, scrapers, edgers and forks; wheelbarrows and lawn carts; snow tools comprising pushers, roof rakes, sled sleigh shovels, scoops, and ice scrapers; and pruning products, such as pruners, loppers, shears, and other tools. The segment also offers striking tools, including axes, picks, mattocks, mauls, wood splitters, sledgehammers, pry bars, and repair handles; traditional and gardening hand tools comprising hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, adjustable wrenches, handsaws, tape measures, levels, clamps, trowels, cultivators, weeders, and other hand tools; indoor and outdoor planters and lawn accessories; and garden hoses and hose reels. In addition, the segment provides home organization products, including wire and wood shelving, containers, storage cabinets, and other closet and home organization accessories; residential, industrial, and commercial fans; and cleaning products, such as brooms, brushes, squeegees, and other cleaning products. The company was formerly known as Instrument Systems Corporation and changed its name to Griffon Corporation in June 1992. Griffon Corporation was founded in 1774 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Carlisle Companies

Carlisle Companies Incorporated operates as a manufacturer and supplier of building envelope products and solutions in the United States, Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Carlisle Construction Materials and Carlisle Weatherproofing Technologies. The company produces single-ply roofing products, and warranted roof systems and accessories, including ethylene propylene diene monomer, thermoplastic polyolefin and polyvinyl chloride membrane, polyiso insulation, and engineered metal roofing and wall panel systems for commercial and residential buildings. It also offers building envelope solutions, including high-performance waterproofing and moisture protection products, protective roofing underlayments, fully integrated liquid and sheet applied air/vapor barriers, sealants/primers and flashing systems, roof coatings and mastics, spray polyurethane foam and coating systems, block-molded expanded polystyrene insulation, and engineered products for HVAC applications. It sells its products under the Carlisle SynTec, Versico, WeatherBond, Hunter Panels, Resitrix, and Hertalan brands. Carlisle Companies Incorporated was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.