Financial Contrast: Albany International (AIN) versus The Competition

Albany International (NYSE:AIN) is one of 436 publicly-traded companies in the “Machinery” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Albany International to related businesses based on the strength of its dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Albany International	6.73%	14.25%	6.26%
Albany International Competitors	-1,035.50%	-36.21%	-0.24%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Albany International and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Albany International	0	4	0	1	2.40
Albany International Competitors	4215	14730	18258	809	2.41

Albany International currently has a consensus price target of $69.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.04%. As a group, “Machinery” companies have a potential upside of 30.72%. Given Albany International’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Albany International has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Albany International and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Albany International	$1.18 billion	-$57.34 million	21.88
Albany International Competitors	$4.62 billion	$362.62 million	6.34

Albany International’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Albany International. Albany International is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.4% of Albany International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.8% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Albany International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.1% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Albany International has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albany International’s competitors have a beta of 5.12, indicating that their average stock price is 412% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Albany International pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Albany International pays out 36.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Machinery” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.8% and pay out 24.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Albany International has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Albany International lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Summary

Albany International competitors beat Albany International on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Albany International Company Profile

Albany International Corporation is a materials science and manufacturing company founded in 1895 as Albany Felt Company. It operates through two businesses: Machine Clothing and Albany Engineered Composites. Machine Clothing makes permeable fabrics and belts used in paper production, as well as products for paperboard, tissue and other industrial applications. Albany Engineered Composites designs and manufactures advanced composite structures and components, primarily for the aerospace and defense industries.