Contrasting American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:DCH) and Aptiv (NYSE:APTV)

Aptiv (NYSE:APTV) and American Axle & Manufacturing (NYSE:DCH) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.2% of Aptiv shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.4% of American Axle & Manufacturing shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Aptiv shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of American Axle & Manufacturing shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Aptiv and American Axle & Manufacturing”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aptiv	$20.40 billion	0.44	$165.00 million	$1.06	40.91
American Axle & Manufacturing	$5.84 billion	0.19	-$19.70 million	($1.08)	-4.43

Aptiv has higher revenue and earnings than American Axle & Manufacturing. American Axle & Manufacturing is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aptiv, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Aptiv and American Axle & Manufacturing, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aptiv	2	4	17	1	2.71
American Axle & Manufacturing	2	5	4	0	2.18

Aptiv presently has a consensus target price of $69.45, indicating a potential upside of 60.15%. American Axle & Manufacturing has a consensus target price of $8.90, indicating a potential upside of 86.04%. Given American Axle & Manufacturing’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe American Axle & Manufacturing is more favorable than Aptiv.

Profitability

This table compares Aptiv and American Axle & Manufacturing’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aptiv	1.17%	17.10%	7.03%
American Axle & Manufacturing	-2.01%	15.94%	2.03%

Volatility and Risk

Aptiv has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Axle & Manufacturing has a beta of 1.73, indicating that its share price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Aptiv beats American Axle & Manufacturing on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aptiv

Aptiv PLC engages in design, manufacture, and sale of vehicle components in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, South America, and internationally. The company provides electrical, electronic, and safety technology solutions to the automotive and commercial vehicle markets. It operates through two segments, Signal and Power Solutions, and Advanced Safety and User Experience. The Signal and Power Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and assembles vehicle’s electrical architecture, including engineered component products, connectors, wiring assemblies and harnesses, cable management products, electrical centers, and hybrid high voltage and safety distribution systems. Its Advanced Safety and User Experience segment provides critical technologies and services for vehicle safety, security, comfort, and convenience, such as sensing and perception systems, electronic control units, multi-domain controllers, vehicle connectivity systems, application software, autonomous driving technologies, and end-to-end DevOps tools. The company was formerly known as Delphi Automotive PLC and changed its name to Aptiv PLC in December 2017. Aptiv PLC was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

About American Axle & Manufacturing

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. is a leading supplier of driveline and drivetrain systems, modules and components for the light vehicle market world wide. It manufactures Driveline and Metal Forming technologies to support electric, hybrid and internal combustion vehicles. It’s the primary supplier of driveline components to its major customers include General Motors, Stellantis and Ford. It also sells various products to Ford & Stellantis from Metal Forming segment. It has the 2 operating segments. Driveline segment comprises front & rear axles, driveshafts, differential assemblies, clutch modules, balance shaft systems, disconnecting driveline technology, and electric & hybrid driveline products and systems for light trucks, SUVs, crossover vehicles, passenger cars and commercial vehicles. Metal Forming segment comprises axle & transmission shafts, ring and pinion gears, differential gears & assemblies, connecting rods and variable valve timing products for OEM and Tier 1 automotive suppliers.