Analyzing Hubbell (NYSE:HUBB) and Allient (NASDAQ:ALNT)

Allient (NASDAQ:ALNT) and Hubbell (NYSE:HUBB) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Allient has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hubbell has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.6% of Allient shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.2% of Hubbell shares are held by institutional investors. 15.0% of Allient shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Hubbell shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Allient and Hubbell, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Allient	0	1	4	1	3.00
Hubbell	0	5	5	1	2.64

Allient presently has a consensus target price of $84.00, suggesting a potential downside of 29.21%. Hubbell has a consensus target price of $551.78, suggesting a potential upside of 12.84%. Given Hubbell’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hubbell is more favorable than Allient.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Allient and Hubbell”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Allient	$554.48 million	3.64	$22.03 million	$1.70	69.80
Hubbell	$6.22 billion	4.15	$887.10 million	$16.89	28.95

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

Dividends

Allient pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Hubbell pays an annual dividend of $5.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Allient pays out 9.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hubbell pays out 33.6% 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. Hubbell has raised its dividend for 17 consecutive years. Hubbell is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Allient and Hubbell’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Allient	4.98%	13.55%	7.05%
Hubbell	14.49%	27.11%	11.48%

Summary

Hubbell beats Allient on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Allient

Allient Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells precision and specialty controlled motion components and systems for various industries in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. It offers brush and brushless DC motors, brushless servo and torque motors, coreless DC motors, integrated brushless motor-drives, gearmotors, gearing, modular digital servo drives, motion controllers, optical encoders, active and passive filters, input/output modules, industrial communications gateways, light-weighting technologies, and other controlled motion-related products, as well as nano precision positioning systems, servo control systems, and digital servo amplifiers and drives. The company sells its products to end customers and original equipment manufacturers in vehicle, medical, aerospace and defense, and industrial markets through direct sales force, authorized manufacturers’ representatives, and distributors. The company was formerly known as Allied Motion Technologies Inc. and changed its name to Allient Inc. in August 2023. Allient Inc. was incorporated in 1962 and is headquartered in Amherst, New York.

About Hubbell

Hubbell Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells electrical and utility solutions in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Electrical Solutions and Utility Solutions. The Electrical Solution segment offers standard and special application wiring device products, rough-in electrical products, connector and grounding products, lighting fixtures, and other electrical equipment for use in industrial, commercial, and institutional facilities by electrical contractors, maintenance personnel, electricians, utilities, and telecommunications companies, as well as components and assemblies. It also designs and manufactures various industrial controls, and communication systems for use in the non-residential and industrial markets, as well as in the oil and gas, and mining industries. This segment sells its products through electrical and industrial distributors, home centers, retail and hardware outlets, lighting showrooms, and residential product-oriented internet sites; and special application products primarily through wholesale distributors to contractors, industrial customers, and original equipment manufacturers. The Utility Solution segment designs, manufactures, and sells electrical distribution, transmission, substation, and telecommunications products, such as arresters, insulators, connectors, anchors, bushings, and enclosures cutoffs and switches; and utility infrastructure products, including smart meters, communications systems, and protection and control devices. This segment sells its products to distributors. Its brand portfolio includes Hubbell, Kellems, Bryant, Burndy, CMC, Bell, TayMac, Wiegmann, Killark, Hawke, Aclara, Fargo, Quazite, Hot Box, etc. The company was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut.