MSA Safety Incorporporated (NYSE:MSA) vs. Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) Critical Survey

Otis Worldwide (NYSE:OTIS) and MSA Safety Incorporporated (NYSE:MSA) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.0% of Otis Worldwide shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.5% of MSA Safety Incorporporated shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Otis Worldwide shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of MSA Safety Incorporporated shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Otis Worldwide and MSA Safety Incorporporated, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Otis Worldwide	1	5	4	0	2.30
MSA Safety Incorporporated	0	4	2	0	2.33

Otis Worldwide currently has a consensus target price of $92.91, indicating a potential upside of 31.78%. MSA Safety Incorporporated has a consensus target price of $211.33, indicating a potential upside of 11.51%. Given Otis Worldwide’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Otis Worldwide is more favorable than MSA Safety Incorporporated.

Profitability

This table compares Otis Worldwide and MSA Safety Incorporporated’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Otis Worldwide	10.17%	-28.50%	14.39%
MSA Safety Incorporporated	16.13%	25.13%	13.24%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Otis Worldwide and MSA Safety Incorporporated”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Otis Worldwide	$14.43 billion	1.86	$1.38 billion	$3.89	18.12
MSA Safety Incorporporated	$1.87 billion	3.90	$278.92 million	$8.04	23.57

Otis Worldwide has higher revenue and earnings than MSA Safety Incorporporated. Otis Worldwide is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MSA Safety Incorporporated, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Otis Worldwide has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MSA Safety Incorporporated has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Otis Worldwide pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. MSA Safety Incorporporated pays an annual dividend of $2.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Otis Worldwide pays out 45.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. MSA Safety Incorporporated pays out 26.9% 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. Otis Worldwide has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and MSA Safety Incorporporated has increased its dividend for 56 consecutive years.

Summary

MSA Safety Incorporporated beats Otis Worldwide on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Otis Worldwide

Otis Worldwide Corporation engages in manufacturing, installation, and servicing of elevators and escalators in the United States, China, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, New Equipment and Service. The New Equipment segment designs, manufactures, sells, and installs a range of passenger and freight elevators, as well as escalators and moving walkways for residential and commercial buildings, and infrastructure projects. This segment serves real-estate and building developers, and general contractors. It sells its products directly to customers, as well as through agents and distributors. The Service segment performs maintenance and repair services, as well as modernization services to upgrade elevators and escalators. Otis Worldwide Corporation was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut.

About MSA Safety Incorporporated

MSA Safety Incorporated develops, manufactures, and supplies safety products and technology solutions that protect people and facility infrastructures in the fire service, energy, utility, construction, and industrial manufacturing applications, as well as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration industries worldwide. The company's core product offerings include fixed gas and flame detection systems, such as gas detection monitoring systems, and flame detectors and open-path infrared gas detectors; breathing apparatus products, including self-contained breathing apparatus; hand-held portable gas detection instruments to detect the presence or absence of various gases in the air; industrial head protection products; firefighter helmets and protective apparel; and fall protection equipment, such as confined space equipment, harnesses, lanyards, and self-retracting lifelines, as well as engineered systems. In addition, the company offers air-purifying respirators, eye and face protection products, ballistic helmets, and gas masks. It serves distributors and end-users through indirect and direct sales channels. The company offers its products under the V-Gard, Cairns, and Gallet brand names. MSA Safety Incorporated was founded in 1914 and is based in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.