Contrasting Weichai Power (OTCMKTS:WEICY) & Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE)

Weichai Power (OTCMKTS:WEICY) and Franklin Electric (NASDAQ:FELE) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Dividends

Weichai Power pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Franklin Electric pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Franklin Electric pays out 21.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Franklin Electric has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Weichai Power and Franklin Electric’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Weichai Power	N/A	N/A	N/A
Franklin Electric	9.33%	17.30%	11.07%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Weichai Power and Franklin Electric’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Weichai Power	$31.55 billion	N/A	$1.43 billion	N/A	N/A
Franklin Electric	$2.04 billion	1.97	$187.33 million	$4.13	21.08

Weichai Power has higher revenue and earnings than Franklin Electric.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.0% of Weichai Power shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of Franklin Electric shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Franklin Electric shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Weichai Power and Franklin Electric, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Weichai Power	0	0	2	0	3.00
Franklin Electric	0	3	1	0	2.25

Franklin Electric has a consensus target price of $96.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.26%. Given Franklin Electric’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Franklin Electric is more favorable than Weichai Power.

Volatility and Risk

Weichai Power has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Franklin Electric has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Franklin Electric beats Weichai Power on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Weichai Power

Weichai Power Co., Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of diesel engines, automobiles, and other automobile components in China and internationally. It operates through Engines, Automobiles and Automobile Components, Agricultural Equipment, and Intelligent Logistics segments. The company offers engines of trucks, buses, construction and agricultural machinery, and industrial equipment; gearboxes, including transmission, PTO, and auto transmission products; axles for trucks, bus, and construction machinery; hydraulic components, pumps, valves, gears, motors, and powertrain; commercial vehicles and auto parts; and industrial trucks and services. It also provides new energy products, which include electric direct drive system, electric gearbox power system, electric drive axle system, hybrid power system, power battery, and range-extender system; after-market products, including parts, oil, and other products; fuel cell systems and parts and components; agricultural equipment, machineries, vehicles, and related parts; heavy-duty vehicles; and automotive electronics and parts and components; and forklift trucks production, warehousing technology, and supply chain solutions. The company offers its products under the Weichai Power Engine, Fast Gear, Hande Axle, Shacman Heavy Truck, and Linder Hydraulics brands. Weichai Power Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Weifang, the People's Republic of China.

About Franklin Electric

Franklin Electric Co., Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and distributes water and fuel pumping systems worldwide. It operates through three segments: Water Systems, Fueling Systems, and Distribution. The Water Systems segment offers submersible motors, drives, pumps, electronic controls, water treatment systems, monitoring devices, and related parts and equipment. Its motors and pumps are used principally for pumping clean water and wastewater in various residential, agricultural, municipal, and industrial applications; and manufactures electronic drives and controls that are used in motors for controlling functionality, as well as provides protection from various hazards, such as electrical surges, over-heating, and dry wells or tanks. The Fueling Systems segment provides pumps, pipes, sumps, fittings, vapor recovery components, electronic controls, monitoring devices, and related parts and equipment primarily for use in fueling system applications. This segment serves other energy markets, such as power reliability systems, as well as includes electronic devices for online monitoring of the power utility, hydroelectric, and telecommunication and data center infrastructure. The Distribution segment sells to and provides presale support and specifications to the installing contractors. It sells products produced by the Water Systems segment. The company sells its products to wholesale and retail distributors, specialty distributors, original equipment manufacturers, industrial and petroleum equipment distributors, and oil and utility companies through its employee sales force and independent manufacturing representatives. Franklin Electric Co., Inc. was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.