Reviewing IDEX (NYSE:IEX) and Graham (NYSE:GHM)

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) and Graham (NYSE:GHM) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for IDEX and Graham, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IDEX	0	2	5	0	2.71
Graham	0	2	2	1	2.80

IDEX currently has a consensus target price of $201.43, suggesting a potential upside of 25.12%. Graham has a consensus target price of $60.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.52%. Given IDEX’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe IDEX is more favorable than Graham.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares IDEX and Graham”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IDEX	$3.27 billion	3.71	$505.00 million	$6.19	26.01
Graham	$209.90 million	3.03	$12.23 million	$1.26	46.00

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.0% of IDEX shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.5% of Graham shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of IDEX shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of Graham shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares IDEX and Graham’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IDEX	14.05%	15.16%	8.60%
Graham	6.43%	12.83%	5.85%

Risk & Volatility

IDEX has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Graham has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

IDEX beats Graham on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IDEX

IDEX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides applied solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Fluid & Metering Technologies (FMT), Health & Science Technologies (HST), and Fire & Safety/Diversified Products (FSDP). The FMT segment designs, produces, and distributes positive displacement pumps, valves, small volume provers, flow meters, injectors, and other fluid-handling pump modules and systems, as well as flow monitoring and other services for the food, chemical, general industrial, water and wastewater, agricultural, and energy industries. The HST segment designs, produces, and distributes precision fluidics positive displacement pumps, powder and liquid processing technologies, drying systems, micro-precision components, pneumatic components and sealing solutions, high performance molded and extruded sealing components, custom mechanical and shaft seals, engineered hygienic mixers and valves, biocompatible medical devices and implantables, air compressors and blowers, optical components and coatings, laboratory and commercial equipment, and precision photonic solutions. This segment serves food and beverage, life sciences, analytical instruments, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical, industrial, semiconductor, automotive/transportation, medical/dental, energy, cosmetics, marine, chemical, wastewater and water treatment, research and aerospace/defense markets. The FSDP segment designs, produces, and distributes firefighting pumps, valves and controls, rescue tools, lifting bags, and other components and systems for the fire and rescue industry; engineered stainless steel banding and clamping devices for various industrial and commercial applications; and precision equipment for dispensing, metering, and mixing colorants and paints used in retail and commercial businesses. IDEX Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.

About Graham

Graham Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures fluid, power, heat transfer, and vacuum equipment for chemical and petrochemical processing, defense, space, petroleum refining, cryogenic, energy, and other industries. It offers power plant systems, including ejectors and surface condensers; torpedo ejection, propulsion, and power systems, such as turbines, alternators, regulators, pumps, and blowers; and thermal management systems comprising pumps, blowers, and drive electronics for defense sector. The company also provides rocket propulsion systems consisting of turbopumps and fuel pumps; cooling systems, which include pumps, compressors, fans, and blowers; and life support systems that comprise fans, pumps, and blowers for space industry. In addition, it offers heat transfer and vacuum systems, including ejectors, process and surface condensers, liquid ring pumps, heat exchangers, and nozzles; power generation systems, such as turbines, generators, compressors, and pumps; and thermal management systems comprising pumps, blowers, and electronics for energy sector. Further, the company offers heat transfer and vacuum systems consisting of ejectors, process and surface condensers, liquid ring pumps, heat exchangers, and nozzles for chemical and petrochemical processing industry. The company also services and sells spare parts for its equipment. It sells its products directly in the United States, the Middle East, Canada, Asia, South America, and internationally. Graham Corporation was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Batavia, New York.