Fortive (NYSE:FTV) & L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) Head to Head Contrast

L.B. Foster (NASDAQ:FSTR) and Fortive (NYSE:FTV) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares L.B. Foster and Fortive’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
L.B. Foster	2.04%	7.61%	4.03%
Fortive	12.38%	15.33%	8.23%

Risk and Volatility

L.B. Foster has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fortive has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares L.B. Foster and Fortive”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
L.B. Foster	$540.01 million	0.73	$7.55 million	$1.05	35.65
Fortive	$4.16 billion	3.97	$579.20 million	$1.69	32.33

Fortive has higher revenue and earnings than L.B. Foster. Fortive is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than L.B. Foster, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.6% of L.B. Foster shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.9% of Fortive shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.6% of L.B. Foster shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Fortive shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for L.B. Foster and Fortive, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
L.B. Foster	0	3	1	0	2.25
Fortive	2	8	2	0	2.00

L.B. Foster presently has a consensus target price of $32.00, indicating a potential downside of 14.52%. Fortive has a consensus target price of $63.10, indicating a potential upside of 15.50%. Given Fortive’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Fortive is more favorable than L.B. Foster.

Summary

Fortive beats L.B. Foster on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About L.B. Foster

L.B. Foster Company provides engineered and manufactured products and services for the building and infrastructure projects in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Rail, Technologies, and Services; and Infrastructure Solutions. The Rail, Technologies, and Services segment offers new rail to passenger and short line freight railroads, industrial companies, and rail contractors, as well as used rails; rail accessories, such as rack spikes, bolts, angle bars, tie plates, and other products; insulated rail joints and related accessories; fixation fasteners, coverboards, and special accessories; and trackwork products. This segment also provides engineered concrete railroad ties, friction management products and application systems, railroad condition monitoring systems and equipment including wheel impact load detection systems, wayside data collection and management systems, and rockfall, flood, earthworks, and bridge strike monitoring; and aftermarket services. The Infrastructure Solutions segment manufactures precast concrete products for use as restrooms, concession stands, and protective storage buildings under the CXT brand for national, state, and municipal parks; and manufactures sounds walls, bridge beams, box culverts, septic tanks, and other custom pre-stressed and precast concrete products. This segment also provides steel bridge products; corrosion protection solutions; concrete-reinforced steel grid decking, open steel grid deck, aluminum bridge railing, and stay-in-place steel bridge forms; cuts, threads, and paints pipe; threading services for water well applications; protective pipeline coating services; and turnkey solutions for metering and injection systems for oil and gas markets. L.B. Foster Company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

About Fortive

Fortive Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and services professional and engineered products, software, and services in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions. The Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provides advanced instrumentation, software, and services, including electrical test and measurement, facility and asset lifecycle software applications, and connected worker safety and compliance solutions for manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, and other industries. This segment markets its products and services under the ACCRUENT, FLUKE, GORDIAN, INDUSTRIAL SCIENTIFIC, INTELEX, PRUFTECHNIK, and SERVICECHANNEL brands. The Precision Technologies segment offers electrical test and measurement, sensing and material technologies for industrial, power and energy, automotive, medical equipment, food and beverage, aerospace and defense, semiconductor, and other general industries under the ANDERSON-NEGELE, GEMS, SETRA, HENGSTLER-DYNAPAR, QUALITROL, PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC, KEITHLEY, and TEKTRONIX brand names. The Advanced Healthcare Solutions segment provides critical workflow solutions comprising instrument sterilization, instrument tracking, design and manufacture of cell therapy equipment, biomedical test tools, radiation detection and safety monitoring, and end-to-end clinical productivity software and solutions under the ASP, CENSIS, CENSITRAC, EVOTECH, FLUKE BIOMEDICAL, INVETECH, LANDAUER, PROVATION, RAYSAFE, and STERRAD brands. Fortive Corporation was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Everett, Washington.