Head-To-Head Comparison: Sika (OTCMKTS:SKFOF) & Lincoln Educational Services (NASDAQ:LINC)

Sika (OTCMKTS:SKFOF) and Lincoln Educational Services (NASDAQ:LINC) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

39.7% of Sika shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.2% of Lincoln Educational Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.8% of Lincoln Educational Services shares are owned 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.

Profitability

This table compares Sika and Lincoln Educational Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sika	N/A	N/A	N/A
Lincoln Educational Services	3.99%	14.61%	5.90%

Dividends

Sika pays an annual dividend of C$57.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 24.3%. Lincoln Educational Services pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Sika pays out 38.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lincoln Educational Services pays out 11.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Sika and Lincoln Educational Services, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sika	0	1	1	0	2.50
Lincoln Educational Services	0	2	4	0	2.67

Lincoln Educational Services has a consensus target price of $50.67, suggesting a potential upside of 66.78%. Given Lincoln Educational Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lincoln Educational Services is more favorable than Sika.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sika and Lincoln Educational Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sika	N/A	N/A	N/A	C$149.66	1.57
Lincoln Educational Services	$570.78 million	1.69	$20.00 million	$0.72	42.19

Lincoln Educational Services has higher revenue and earnings than Sika. Sika is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lincoln Educational Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Lincoln Educational Services beats Sika on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sika

Sika AG, a specialty chemicals company, develops, produces, and sells systems and products for bonding, sealing, damping, reinforcing, and protecting in the building sector and motor vehicle industry worldwide. The company offers tile adhesives and grouts, systems for under-tile waterproofing, sound reduction, renders, and decorative finishes for exterior and interior walls, as well as exterior insulation finishing systems; admixtures and additives for concrete, cement, and mortar production; and flat roofing systems, including flexible sheets and liquid-applied membranes under the Sika Sarnafil brand, as well as vapor control layers, adhesives, insulation, fixation, roof drainages, leak monitoring and detection systems, and accessories. It also provides technologies for below and above-ground waterproofing, including flexible membrane systems, such as polymeric sheets, fully bonded membranes, and modified bitumen sheets; liquid-applied membranes; joint waterproofing systems, including waterstops, swelling profiles, and adhered tapes; and waterproofing mortars and injection resins for commercial and residential basements, tunnels, bridges, and various types of water-retaining structures, such as reservoirs, storage basins, and storage tanks. In addition, the company offers flooring solutions, such as synthetic resin and cementitious systems; and sealants, adhesives, tapes, and spray foams for the building facades, interior finishing, and infrastructure projects. Further, it provides repairing, reinforcing, and protective solutions for concrete structures, such as repair mortars, shrinking grouts, anchoring adhesives, protective coatings, corrosion control, and structural strengthening systems. The company serves automobile and commercial vehicle assembly, automotive aftermarket, marine vessel, industrial lamination, renewable energy, home appliance, and facade engineering industries. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland.

About Lincoln Educational Services

Lincoln Educational Services Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides various career-oriented post-secondary education services to high school graduates and working adults in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Campus Operations and Transitional. It offers associate's degree, and diploma and certificate programs in automotive technology; skilled trades programs, including electrical, heating and air conditioning repair, welding, computerized numerical control, and electrical and electronic systems technology; health science programs comprising licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, dental assistant, medical assistant, medical administrative assistant, and claims examiner; hospitality service and information technology programs, such as culinary, therapeutic massage, cosmetology, aesthetics, and computer systems support technicians. The company operates schools under the Lincoln Technical Institute, Lincoln College of Technology, Lincoln Culinary Institute, Euphoria Institute of Beauty Arts and Sciences, and other brand names. Lincoln Educational Services Corporation was founded in 1946 and is based in Parsippany, New Jersey.