Alta Equipment Group (NYSE:ALTG) and Dover (NYSE:DOV) Head to Head Survey

Dover (NYSE:DOV) and Alta Equipment Group (NYSE:ALTG) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Dover and Alta Equipment Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dover	0	5	8	0	2.62
Alta Equipment Group	1	2	2	1	2.50

Dover currently has a consensus price target of $224.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.85%. Alta Equipment Group has a consensus price target of $11.63, suggesting a potential upside of 89.70%. Given Alta Equipment Group’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Alta Equipment Group is more favorable than Dover.

Profitability

This table compares Dover and Alta Equipment Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dover	13.52%	17.87%	10.06%
Alta Equipment Group	-4.37%	-341.70%	-5.63%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

84.5% of Dover shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.6% of Alta Equipment Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Dover shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.2% of Alta Equipment Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Dover pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Alta Equipment Group pays an annual dividend of $0.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Dover pays out 26.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alta Equipment Group pays out -8.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Dover has increased its dividend for 70 consecutive years. Alta Equipment Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Dover and Alta Equipment Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dover	$8.09 billion	3.40	$1.09 billion	$7.94	25.68
Alta Equipment Group	$1.84 billion	0.11	-$80.30 million	($2.56)	-2.39

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

Risk and Volatility

Dover has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alta Equipment Group has a beta of 1.54, suggesting that its share price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Dover beats Alta Equipment Group on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Dover

Dover Corporation provides equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services worldwide. The company's Engineered Products segment provides various equipment, component, software, solution, and services that are used in vehicle aftermarket, waste handling, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, industrial winch and hoist, and fluid dispensing end-market. This segment offers manual and power clamp, rotary and linear mechanical indexer, conveyor, pick and place unit, glove port, and manipulator, as well as end-of-arm robotic gripper, slide, and end effector; winches, hoists, bearings, drives, and electric monitoring system; and radio frequency and microwave filters and switches, and signal intelligence solutions. Its Clean Energy & Fueling segment offers component, equipment, and software and service solution enabling safe storage and transport of fuel, cryogenic gases, and hazardous fluids, as well as operation of retail fueling and vehicle wash establishment. The company's Imaging & Identification segment provides precision marking and coding, product traceability equipment, brand protection, and digital textile printing equipment and solution, as well as related consumable, software, and service to packaged and consumer goods, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, fashion and apparel, and other end-market. Its Pumps & Process Solutions segment manufactures specialty pump, connector, flow meter, fluid connecting solution, plastics and polymer processing equipment, and engineered components for rotating and reciprocating machines. The company's Climate & Sustainability Technologies segment manufactures refrigeration system, refrigeration display case, commercial glass refrigerator and freezer door, and brazed plate heat exchanger for industrial heating and cooling, and residential climate control applications. The company was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois.

About Alta Equipment Group

Alta Equipment Group Inc. owns and operates integrated equipment dealership platforms in the United States. It operates through three segments: Material Handling, Construction Equipment, and Master Distribution. The company operates a branch network that sells, rents, and provides parts and service support for various categories of specialized equipment, including lift trucks and other material handling equipment, heavy and compact earthmoving equipment, crushing and screening equipment, environmental processing equipment, cranes and aerial work platforms, paving and asphalt equipment, and other construction equipment and related products. It also offers repair and maintenance services for its equipment. In addition, the company designs and builds warehouses; provides automated equipment installation and system integration solutions; and distributes environmental processing equipment. It serves various manufacturing, food and beverage, automotive, municipal/government, education, pharmaceutical and medical, wholesale and retail distribution, construction, agriculture, road building, mining, recycling, and waste management sectors. Alta Equipment Group Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Livonia, Michigan.