Acuity (AYI) & Its Competitors Critical Review

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) is one of 218 public companies in the “Electrical Equipment” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Acuity to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Acuity and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acuity	11.45%	20.30%	12.43%
Acuity Competitors	-372.62%	-44.70%	-7.06%

Risk and Volatility

Acuity has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acuity’s competitors have a beta of -20.13, indicating that their average share price is 2,113% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.2% of Acuity shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.4% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Acuity shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.9% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are held 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Acuity and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acuity	0	5	4	0	2.44
Acuity Competitors	2312	5198	7250	440	2.38

Acuity currently has a consensus target price of $374.20, indicating a potential upside of 11.75%. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 45.49%. Given Acuity’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Acuity has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Acuity and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Acuity	$4.64 billion	$531.30 million	19.58
Acuity Competitors	$2.47 billion	$148.77 million	20.64

Acuity has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Acuity is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Acuity pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity pays out 4.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.5% and pay out 27.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Acuity has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Summary

Acuity beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Acuity

Acuity (NYSE: AYI) designs, manufactures and sells lighting and building-management solutions. Its offerings include indoor and outdoor luminaires, lighting controls, building automation systems and related software for commercial, industrial, institutional and residential settings. The company sells products under a portfolio of brands, including Lithonia Lighting, Juno, Peerless, Gotham and Distech Controls. Its solutions help customers manage lighting, building systems and energy use across a range of facilities.