Comparing Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) & Art’s-Way Manufacturing (NASDAQ:ARTW)

Art’s-Way Manufacturing (NASDAQ:ARTW) and Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Art’s-Way Manufacturing has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oshkosh has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Art’s-Way Manufacturing and Oshkosh’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Art’s-Way Manufacturing	-0.08%	-0.16%	-0.10%
Oshkosh	5.24%	12.95%	5.86%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Art’s-Way Manufacturing and Oshkosh”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Art’s-Way Manufacturing	$22.98 million	0.74	$1.03 million	($0.01)	-329.00
Oshkosh	$10.42 billion	0.78	$647.00 million	$8.74	15.13

Oshkosh has higher revenue and earnings than Art’s-Way Manufacturing. Art’s-Way Manufacturing is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Oshkosh, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Art’s-Way Manufacturing and Oshkosh, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Art’s-Way Manufacturing	1	0	0	0	1.00
Oshkosh	0	6	11	0	2.65

Oshkosh has a consensus price target of $169.57, indicating a potential upside of 28.20%. Given Oshkosh’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Oshkosh is more favorable than Art’s-Way Manufacturing.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

2.9% of Art’s-Way Manufacturing shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Oshkosh shares are owned by institutional investors. 51.5% of Art’s-Way Manufacturing shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Oshkosh shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Oshkosh beats Art’s-Way Manufacturing on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Art’s-Way Manufacturing

Art’s-Way Manufacturing Co., Inc. manufactures and distributes farm equipment products. It operates through the Agricultural Products, and Modular Buildings segments. The Agricultural Products segment manufactures a variety of specialized farm machinery under its own label including portable and stationary animal feed processing equipment and related attachments used to mill and mix feed grains into custom animal feed rations, a line of forage equipment consisting of forage boxes, bale processors, running gear, and dump boxes, a line of manure spreaders, sugar beet harvesting equipment, and a line of dirt work equipment. The Modular Buildings segment produces and sells modular buildings, which are custom designed to meet the specific research needs of its customers. It also provides services relating to the design, manufacturing, delivery, installation and renting of the building units that it produces. The company was founded by Arthur Luscombe in 1956 and is headquartered in Armstrong, IA.

About Oshkosh

Oshkosh Corporation provides purpose-built vehicles and equipment worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Access, Defense, and Vocational segment. Its Access Equipment segment design and manufacture aerial work platform and telehandlers for use in construction, industrial, and maintenance applications; offers financing and leasing solutions including rental fleet loans, leases, and floor plan and retail financing; and towing and recovery equipment, which includes carriers, wreckers, and rotators, as well as provides equipment installation and sale of chassis and service parts. The Defense segment engages in the manufacture and sale of heavy, medium, and light tactical wheeled vehicles and related services for department of defense. Its Vocational segment offers custom and commercial firefighting equipment, fire apparatus, and emergency vehicles, including pumpers, aerial platform, ladder and tiller trucks, and tankers; light, medium, and heavy-duty rescue vehicles; and wildland rough terrain response, bomb squad, hazardous materials control vehicles, mobile command and control centers, and other emergency response vehicles. Additionally, this segment produces and sells custom and commercial firefighting vehicles, as well as command vehicles, ARFF vehicles; design and manufacture refuse collection vehicles for waste services industry; front discharge concrete mixers for the concrete ready-mix industry; and field service vehicles and truck-mounted cranes for construction, equipment dealer, building supply, utility, tire service, railroad, and mining industries. Further, the company provides its products through direct sales representatives, dealers, and distributors. Oshkosh Corporation was formerly known as Oshkosh Truck Corporation. The company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.