Reviewing Lennox International (NYSE:LII) and CSR (OTCMKTS:CSRLF)

CSR (OTCMKTS:CSRLF) and Lennox International (NYSE:LII) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CSR and Lennox International”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CSR	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.22	26.25
Lennox International	$5.20 billion	2.68	$805.80 million	$22.12	18.22

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

Profitability

This table compares CSR and Lennox International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CSR	N/A	N/A	N/A
Lennox International	14.61%	66.42%	19.16%

Dividends

CSR pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Lennox International pays an annual dividend of $5.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. CSR pays out 45.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lennox International pays out 24.6% 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. Lennox International has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

30.6% of CSR shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.1% of Lennox International shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.8% of Lennox International shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for CSR and Lennox International, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CSR	0	0	0	0	0.00
Lennox International	2	9	5	0	2.19

Lennox International has a consensus price target of $546.58, suggesting a potential upside of 35.63%. Given Lennox International’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lennox International is more favorable than CSR.

Summary

Lennox International beats CSR on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CSR

CSR Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and supply of building products for residential and commercial constructions in Australia and New Zealand. It operates through Building Products, Property, and Aluminium segments. The Building Products segment offers interior systems, including gyprock plasterboards, Martini acoustic insulation products, and Rondo rolled formed steel products, as well as Himmel and Potter interior systems that supplies ceiling tiles, aluminum partitions, and architectural hardware products; construction systems, such as Hebel autoclaved aerated concrete products, AFS walling systems, cladding systems, and Cemintel fiber cement; masonry and insulation solutions comprising Bradford insulations, Bradford energy solutions, Edmonds ventilation systems, and Monier roofing solutions; and bricks, including PGH Bricks and pavers. The company's Property segment sells former operating sites. This segment is also involved in the large-scale developments in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria. Its Aluminium segment offers aluminium ingots, billets, and slabs. CSR Limited was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in North Ryde, Australia.

About Lennox International

Lennox International Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets a range of products for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration markets in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The Home Comfort Solutions segment provides furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, packaged heating and cooling systems, indoor air quality equipment, comfort control products, and replacement parts and supplies; residential heating, ventilation, cooling equipment, and air conditioning; and evaporator coils and unit heaters under Lennox, Dave Lennox Signature Collection, Armstrong Air, Ducane, AirEase, Concord, MagicPak, Advanced Distributor Products, Allied, Elite Series, Merit Series, Comfort Sync, Healthy Climate, iComfort, ComfortSense, and Lennox Stores name. The Building Climate Solutions segment offers unitary heating and air conditioning equipment, applied systems, controls, installation and service of commercial heating and cooling equipment, variable refrigerant flow commercial, curb, curb adapters, drop box diffusers, HVAC recycling, and salvage service. This segment also provides condensing units, unit coolers, fluid coolers, air cooled condensers, air handlers, and refrigeration rack systems for preserving food and other perishables; and compressor racks and industrial process chillers under the Lennox, Model L, CORE, Enlight, Xion, Energence, Prodigy, Strategos, Raider, Lennox VRF, Lennox National Account Services, Allied Commercial, Elite, AES Industries, Mechanical, and Reclaim, Heatcraft Worldwide and Chandler Refrigeration, Bohn, MAGNA, Larkin, FriguaBohn, IntelliGen, and Interlink brand name. In addition, the company provides small package units, rooftop units, chillers, air handlers, and fan coils. It sells its products and services through direct sales, distributors, and company-owned parts and supplies stores. The company was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Richardson, Texas.