Analyzing Unifi (NYSE:UFI) and Albany International (NYSE:AIN)

Unifi (NYSE:UFI) and Albany International (NYSE:AIN) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.7% of Unifi shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.4% of Albany International shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.9% of Unifi shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Albany International shares are owned 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 and recommmendations for Unifi and Albany International, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Unifi	0	0	0	0	0.00
Albany International	1	1	2	1	2.60

Albany International has a consensus target price of $79.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.79%. Given Albany International’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Albany International is more favorable than Unifi.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Unifi and Albany International”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Unifi	$582.21 million	0.15	-$47.40 million	($2.18)	-2.15
Albany International	$1.23 billion	1.72	$87.62 million	$2.48	28.24

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

Volatility and Risk

Unifi has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Albany International has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Unifi and Albany International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Unifi	-6.74%	-16.67%	-9.04%
Albany International	6.44%	9.79%	5.47%

Summary

Albany International beats Unifi on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Unifi

Unifi, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of recycled and synthetic products in North America, Central America, South America, Asia, and Europe. Its polyester products include partially oriented yarn, textured, solution and package dyed, twisted, beamed, and draw wound yarns in virgin or recycled varieties; and nylon products comprise virgin or recycled textured, solution dyed, and spandex covered yarns. The company also provides recycled solutions made from pre-consumer and post-consumer waste, such as plastic bottle flakes, polyester polymer beads, and staple fiber. It offers recycled and synthetic products primarily to yarn manufacturers, knitters, and weavers that produces yarn and fabric for the apparel, hosiery, automotive, home furnishings, industrial, medical, and other end-use markets. The company sells its products through sales force and independent sales agents under the REPREVE brand. Unifi, Inc. was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina.

About Albany International

Albany International Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the machine clothing and engineered composites businesses. The company operates in two segments, Machine Clothing (MC) and Albany Engineered Composites (AEC). The MC segment designs, manufactures, and markets paper machine clothing for use in the manufacturing of papers, paperboards, tissues, towels, pulps, nonwovens, building products, tannery, and textiles, as well as fiber cement and several other industrial applications. This segment offers paper machine clothing forming, pressing, and drying fabrics, as well as engineered processing belts; and engineered fabrics. The AEC segment 3D-woven and injected composite components for aircraft engines composite airframe and engine components for military and commercial aircraft. It operates in the United States, Switzerland, France, Brazil, China, Mexico, Germany, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1895 and is headquartered in Rochester, New Hampshire.