Head to Head Analysis: Assa Abloy (OTCMKTS:ASAZY) and Eastern (NASDAQ:EML)

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) and Assa Abloy (OTCMKTS:ASAZY) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Eastern and Assa Abloy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern	-3.06%	10.44%	5.38%
Assa Abloy	9.48%	14.16%	6.65%

Dividends

Eastern pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Assa Abloy pays an annual dividend of $0.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Eastern pays out -33.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Assa Abloy pays out 26.5% 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. Eastern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Eastern and Assa Abloy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern	0	0	0	0	0.00
Assa Abloy	0	3	0	0	2.00

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.0% of Eastern shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.0% of Eastern shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Eastern has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Assa Abloy has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Eastern and Assa Abloy”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern	$272.75 million	0.55	-$8.53 million	($1.32)	-18.46
Assa Abloy	$14.20 billion	N/A	$1.48 billion	$0.68	24.74

Assa Abloy has higher revenue and earnings than Eastern. Eastern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assa Abloy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Assa Abloy beats Eastern on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eastern

The Eastern Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered solutions to industrial markets in the United States and internationally. The company offers turnkey returnable packaging solutions, which are used in the assembly processes of vehicles, aircraft, and durable goods, as well as in production processes of plastic packaging products, packaged consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals; designs and manufactures blow mold tools and injection blow mold tooling products, and 2-step stretch blow molds and related components for the stretch blow molding industry; and supplies blow molds and change parts to the food, beverage, healthcare, and chemical industries. It also provides rotary latches, compression latches, draw latches, hinges, camlocks, key switches, padlocks, and handles; and development and program management services for custom electromechanical and mechanical systems for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and customer applications. In addition, the company designs and manufactures proprietary vision technology for OEMs and aftermarket applications, as well as offers aftermarket components to the heavy- and medium-duty truck, motorhome, and bus markets. The Eastern Company was founded in 1858 and is based in Shelton, Connecticut.

About Assa Abloy

ASSA ABLOY AB (publ) provides door opening and access products, solutions, and services for the institutional, commercial, and residential markets in Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa, North and South America, Asia, and Oceania. The company provides digital access solutions, such as electronic access control ecosystem, wireless solutions, electronic key solutions, standalone access solutions, and wired solutions; swing, revolving, and sliding doors; mechanical products, including hinges, lever handles, mortise lockcases, euro profile cylinders, panic exit devices, door closers, floor spring, and general hardware; and doors. It offers Openings Studio, a building information modeling software ecosystem is collaboration tool for designing, documenting, and managing openings. The company provides its products primarily under the ASSA ABLOY, Yale, and HID brands. It sells its products through distributors and wholesalers. The company serves aviation, education, distribution and logistics, entertainment and public facility, finance and banking, government and military, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, mining, office and enterprise, homes and residence, retail, shipyards, and transportation industries. ASSA ABLOY AB (publ) was incorporated in 1954 and is based in Stockholm, Sweden.