Financial Comparison: IDEX (NYSE:IEX) & Dover (NYSE:DOV)

Dover (NYSE:DOV) and IDEX (NYSE:IEX) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Dividends

Dover pays an annual dividend of $2.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. IDEX pays an annual dividend of $2.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Dover pays out 25.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. IDEX pays out 42.0% 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. Dover has raised its dividend for 70 consecutive years and IDEX has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.5% of Dover shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.0% of IDEX shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Dover shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of IDEX shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Dover and IDEX”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dover	$8.09 billion	3.16	$1.09 billion	$8.30	22.84
IDEX	$3.46 billion	4.98	$483.20 million	$6.95	33.57

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

Volatility & Risk

Dover has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IDEX has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Dover and IDEX’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dover	13.48%	18.32%	10.26%
IDEX	14.49%	15.69%	9.10%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Dover and IDEX, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dover	0	5	10	0	2.67
IDEX	0	2	9	0	2.82

Dover currently has a consensus price target of $238.21, indicating a potential upside of 25.63%. IDEX has a consensus price target of $260.27, indicating a potential upside of 11.54%. Given Dover’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Dover is more favorable than IDEX.

Summary

Dover beats IDEX on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Dover

Dover Corporation provides equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services worldwide. The company's Engineered Products segment provides various equipment, component, software, solution, and services that are used in vehicle aftermarket, waste handling, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, industrial winch and hoist, and fluid dispensing end-market. This segment offers manual and power clamp, rotary and linear mechanical indexer, conveyor, pick and place unit, glove port, and manipulator, as well as end-of-arm robotic gripper, slide, and end effector; winches, hoists, bearings, drives, and electric monitoring system; and radio frequency and microwave filters and switches, and signal intelligence solutions. Its Clean Energy & Fueling segment offers component, equipment, and software and service solution enabling safe storage and transport of fuel, cryogenic gases, and hazardous fluids, as well as operation of retail fueling and vehicle wash establishment. The company's Imaging & Identification segment provides precision marking and coding, product traceability equipment, brand protection, and digital textile printing equipment and solution, as well as related consumable, software, and service to packaged and consumer goods, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, fashion and apparel, and other end-market. Its Pumps & Process Solutions segment manufactures specialty pump, connector, flow meter, fluid connecting solution, plastics and polymer processing equipment, and engineered components for rotating and reciprocating machines. The company's Climate & Sustainability Technologies segment manufactures refrigeration system, refrigeration display case, commercial glass refrigerator and freezer door, and brazed plate heat exchanger for industrial heating and cooling, and residential climate control applications. The company was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois.

About IDEX

IDEX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides applied solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Fluid & Metering Technologies (FMT), Health & Science Technologies (HST), and Fire & Safety/Diversified Products (FSDP). The FMT segment designs, produces, and distributes positive displacement pumps, valves, small volume provers, flow meters, injectors, and other fluid-handling pump modules and systems, as well as flow monitoring and other services for the food, chemical, general industrial, water and wastewater, agricultural, and energy industries. The HST segment designs, produces, and distributes precision fluidics positive displacement pumps, powder and liquid processing technologies, drying systems, micro-precision components, pneumatic components and sealing solutions, high performance molded and extruded sealing components, custom mechanical and shaft seals, engineered hygienic mixers and valves, biocompatible medical devices and implantables, air compressors and blowers, optical components and coatings, laboratory and commercial equipment, and precision photonic solutions. This segment serves food and beverage, life sciences, analytical instruments, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical, industrial, semiconductor, automotive/transportation, medical/dental, energy, cosmetics, marine, chemical, wastewater and water treatment, research and aerospace/defense markets. The FSDP segment designs, produces, and distributes firefighting pumps, valves and controls, rescue tools, lifting bags, and other components and systems for the fire and rescue industry; engineered stainless steel banding and clamping devices for various industrial and commercial applications; and precision equipment for dispensing, metering, and mixing colorants and paints used in retail and commercial businesses. IDEX Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.