Acuity (NYSE:AYI – Get Free Report) is one of 216 public companies in the “Electrical Equipment” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Acuity to related businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.
Volatility and Risk
Acuity has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acuity’s rivals have a beta of -20.44, suggesting that their average share price is 2,144% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Acuity and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Acuity | 11.45% | 20.30% | 12.43% |
| Acuity Competitors | -354.46% | -44.20% | -7.95% |
Dividends
Acuity pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Acuity pays out 4.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.5% and pay out 27.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Acuity has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings for Acuity and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Acuity | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2.44 |
| Acuity Competitors | 2283 | 5156 | 7201 | 437 | 2.38 |
Acuity currently has a consensus target price of $374.20, suggesting a potential upside of 10.64%. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 45.06%. Given Acuity’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Acuity has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
98.2% of Acuity shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.4% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Acuity shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.1% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Acuity and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Net Income | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Acuity | $4.64 billion | $531.30 million | 19.78 |
| Acuity Competitors | $2.41 billion | $146.97 million | 20.22 |
Acuity has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Acuity is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.
Summary
Acuity beats its rivals on 9 of the 15 factors compared.
About Acuity
Acuity Brands, Inc. provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch. This segment serves electrical distributors, retail home improvement centers, electric utilities, national accounts, original equipment manufacturers, digital retailers, lighting showrooms, and energy service companies. The ISG segment offers building management solutions, such as products for controlling heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, shades, refrigeration, and building access that deliver end-to-end optimization of those building systems; and building management software that enhances building system management and automates labor intensive tasks. This segment serves system integrators, as well as retail stores, airports, and enterprise campuses. The company offers its products and solutions under the Atrius, Distech Controls, and KE2 Therm Solutions brands. Acuity Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
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