Contrasting Kone Oyj (OTCMKTS:KNYJY) & Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE)

Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) and Kone Oyj (OTCMKTS:KNYJY) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Franklin Electric and Kone Oyj’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Franklin Electric	6.90%	14.52%	9.59%
Kone Oyj	8.76%	40.59%	11.29%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.0% of Franklin Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Franklin Electric shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Franklin Electric and Kone Oyj”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Franklin Electric	$2.13 billion	1.91	$147.09 million	$3.22	28.61
Kone Oyj	$12.72 billion	2.29	$1.11 billion	$1.07	29.97

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

Risk and Volatility

Franklin Electric has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kone Oyj has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Franklin Electric pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Kone Oyj pays an annual dividend of $0.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Franklin Electric pays out 34.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kone Oyj pays out 42.1% 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. Franklin Electric has increased its dividend for 33 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Franklin Electric and Kone Oyj, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Franklin Electric	0	3	0	0	2.00
Kone Oyj	2	3	0	1	2.00

Franklin Electric currently has a consensus price target of $106.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.04%. Given Franklin Electric’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Franklin Electric is more favorable than Kone Oyj.

Summary

Kone Oyj beats Franklin Electric on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Franklin Electric

Franklin Electric Co., Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and distributes water and fuel pumping systems worldwide. The company operates through Water Systems, Fueling Systems, and Distribution segments. The Water Systems segment offers submersible motors, drives, pumps, electronic controls, water treatment systems, monitoring devices, and related parts and equipment. Its motors and pumps are used principally for pumping clean water and wastewater in various residential, agricultural, municipal, and industrial applications; and manufactures electronic drives and controls that are used in motors for controlling functionality, as well as provides protection from various hazards, such as electrical surges, over-heating, and dry wells or tanks. The Fueling Systems segment provides pumps, pipes, sumps, fittings, vapor recovery components, electronic controls, monitoring devices, and related parts and equipment primarily for use in fueling system applications. This segment serves other energy markets, such as power reliability systems, as well as includes electronic devices for online monitoring of the power utility, hydroelectric, and telecommunication and data center infrastructure. The Distribution segment sells to and provides presale support and specifications to the installing contractors. It sells products produced by the Water Systems segment. The company sells its products to wholesale and retail distributors, specialty distributors, original equipment manufacturers, industrial and petroleum equipment distributors, and oil and utility companies through its employee sales force and independent manufacturing representatives. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

About Kone Oyj

KONE Oyj, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the elevator and escalator business worldwide. The company provides elevators, escalators, and automatic building doors. It offers maintenance services; and modernization solutions. In addition, the company offers KONE Office Flow, a connected solution that allows for personalized user experiences and touch-free access; health and well-being solutions for elevators, escalators, and doors; KONE Access, an access control system, which is integrated with elevator system and building doors; KONE Destination, a destination control system that reduce waiting and travel times; KONE infotainment, a communication channel for building tenants and visitors; and monitoring solutions that enable real-time inspection of elevators and escalators. Further, it provides people flow planning and consulting services; solutions for special buildings and large projects; cybersecurity solutions; and energy solutions for greener buildings. KONE Oyj was founded in 1908 and is based in Espoo, Finland.