Reviewing Sumitomo Heavy (OTCMKTS:SOHVY) and Alta Equipment Group (NYSE:ALTG)

Sumitomo Heavy (OTCMKTS:SOHVY) and Alta Equipment Group (NYSE:ALTG) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sumitomo Heavy	0.04%	4.30%	2.23%
Alta Equipment Group	-3.83%	-80.23%	-4.64%

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sumitomo Heavy	$7.08 billion	0.38	$50.97 million	$0.01	553.00
Alta Equipment Group	$1.88 billion	0.13	-$62.10 million	($2.23)	-3.40

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Sumitomo Heavy and Alta Equipment Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sumitomo Heavy	0	1	0	0	2.00
Alta Equipment Group	0	1	2	2	3.20

Alta Equipment Group has a consensus target price of $11.25, suggesting a potential upside of 48.40%. Given Alta Equipment Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Alta Equipment Group is more favorable than Sumitomo Heavy.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

73.6% of Alta Equipment Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.2% of Alta Equipment Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Sumitomo Heavy pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Alta Equipment Group pays an annual dividend of $0.23 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Sumitomo Heavy pays out 1,400.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Alta Equipment Group pays out -10.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alta Equipment Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

Sumitomo Heavy has a beta of 0.23, suggesting that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alta Equipment Group has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its stock price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Alta Equipment Group beats Sumitomo Heavy on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sumitomo Heavy

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. manufactures and sells general machinery, advanced precision machinery, construction machinery, ships, and environmental plant facilities in Japan and internationally. Its Mechatronics segment offers gearmotors, gearboxes, motion control drives, motors and inverters, drive solutions, precision positioning equipment, laser systems, control systems, motion components, and collaborative robot. The company's Industrial Machinery segment provides injection molding machines, cryocoolers, ion implanters, PET tracer production systems, vacuum coasting equipment, steel tube air forming, non-destructive inspections, clean room system, cast iron and steel rolls for hot rolling, and coolant systems. Its Logistics & Construction segment offers hydraulic excavators, crawler cranes, material handing systems, parking systems, transfer molding presses, cryopumps, proton therapy systems, forging presses, lifting magnets, spinning machines, dust collectors, surface grinding machines, extrusion coating line, road machinery, foundation machines, logistics systems, and forklifts. The company's Energy & Lifelines segment provides circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers, liquid air energy storage, electrostatic precipitators, evaporation and crystallization facilities, waste heat boilers, CFB scrubbers, flue gas denitrification systems, industrial wastewater treatment facilities, steam turbines, distillation technology and extractors, mixing vessels, and food and beverage manufacturing facilities. This segment also offers bubbling fluidized bed boilers, rotary kiln-type recycling facilities, ash handling systems, fluidized bed gasifiers, waste-to-energy plants baghouses, digital services, water and sewage treatment systems, process pumps, reactor vessels, coke oven machines, and oils tankers. The company provides IT solutions and security services. Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. was founded in 1888 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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.