Omega Flex (NASDAQ:OFLX) vs. Columbus McKinnon (NASDAQ:CMCO) Head-To-Head Survey

Columbus McKinnon (NASDAQ:CMCO) and Omega Flex (NASDAQ:OFLX) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.0% of Columbus McKinnon shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.1% of Omega Flex shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Columbus McKinnon shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 65.2% of Omega Flex shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Columbus McKinnon and Omega Flex’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbus McKinnon	-21.25%	10.02%	2.36%
Omega Flex	12.27%	14.26%	11.54%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Columbus McKinnon and Omega Flex, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbus McKinnon	1	1	1	2	2.80
Omega Flex	1	0	0	0	1.00

Columbus McKinnon presently has a consensus price target of $23.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.53%. Given Columbus McKinnon’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Columbus McKinnon is more favorable than Omega Flex.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Columbus McKinnon and Omega Flex”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbus McKinnon	$1.19 billion	0.43	-$229.54 million	($7.46)	-2.36
Omega Flex	$98.30 million	2.63	$14.83 million	$1.19	21.55

Omega Flex has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Columbus McKinnon. Columbus McKinnon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Omega Flex, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Columbus McKinnon pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Omega Flex pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Columbus McKinnon pays out -3.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Omega Flex pays out 114.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Omega Flex has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Omega Flex is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Columbus McKinnon has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Omega Flex has a beta of 0.45, indicating that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Omega Flex beats Columbus McKinnon on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Columbus McKinnon

Columbus McKinnon Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets motion solutions for moving, lifting, positioning, and securing materials worldwide. It offers manual, battery, electric, and air hoists; steel, rack, and pinion jacks; winches, hydraulic jacks and tools, trolleys and its clamps, and lifting tables; skates and heavy load moving systems; material handling equipment; mobile, workplace, and jib cranes; crane components and kits; and below-the-hook lifting devices, lifting slings, and lashing systems. The company also provides linear motion products, elevator and mining drives, brakes, radio controls, collision avoidance systems, regenerative drives, AC and DC drive and motor control systems, DC motor and magnet control systems, and conductor bar systems; and underfloor lifting systems, lifting jacks, roof working platforms, hybrid lifting systems, turntables, bogie axle exchange and lifting systems, bogie lift and turn devices, and workshop equipment. In addition, it offers fabric and modular belt, and sanitary, stainless steel conveyors; pallet systems; parts and belts; rotary unions and swivel joints; check valves; accumulation and transfer tables, motion control systems, and steel and flexible chains; hooks, shackles, textile slings, clamps, and load binders; actuators and rotary unions; and push button pendant stations, collision avoidance, and power delivery subsystems. It serves EV production and aerospace, energy and utilities, process industries, industrial automation, construction and infrastructure, food and beverage, entertainment, life sciences, consumer packaged goods, and e-commerce/supply chain/warehousing markets. It offers its products to end users directly, and through distributors, independent crane builders, material handling specialists and integrators, original equipment manufacturers, government agencies, and engineering procurement and construction firms. The company was founded in 1875 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About Omega Flex

Omega Flex, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells flexible metal hoses and accessories in North America and internationally. It offers flexible gas piping for use in residential and commercial buildings; fittings; containment pining; and corrugated medical tubing for use in hospitals, ambulatory care centers, dental, physician and veterinary clinics, laboratories, and other facilities. The company sells its products under the TracPipe, CounterStrike, AutoSnap, AutoFlare, DoubleTrac, DEF-Trac, and MediTrac brand names. It serves various markets, including construction, manufacturing, transportation, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and other industries. The company sells its products through independent sales representatives, distributors, fabricating distributors, wholesalers, original equipment manufacturers, and direct sales, as well as through its website. The company was formerly known as Tofle America, Inc. and changed its name to Omega Flex, Inc. in 1996. Omega Flex, Inc. was incorporated in 1975 and is based in Exton, Pennsylvania.