Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) vs. MSA Safety Incorporporated (NYSE:MSA) Critical Analysis

MSA Safety Incorporporated (NYSE:MSA) and Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

MSA Safety Incorporporated has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Greenbrier Companies has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for MSA Safety Incorporporated and Greenbrier Companies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MSA Safety Incorporporated	0	4	2	0	2.33
Greenbrier Companies	1	3	0	0	1.75

MSA Safety Incorporporated currently has a consensus target price of $211.33, suggesting a potential upside of 16.56%. Greenbrier Companies has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.93%. Given MSA Safety Incorporporated’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe MSA Safety Incorporporated is more favorable than Greenbrier Companies.

Profitability

This table compares MSA Safety Incorporporated and Greenbrier Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MSA Safety Incorporporated	16.13%	25.13%	13.24%
Greenbrier Companies	4.07%	6.49%	2.55%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares MSA Safety Incorporporated and Greenbrier Companies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MSA Safety Incorporporated	$1.87 billion	3.73	$278.92 million	$8.04	22.55
Greenbrier Companies	$3.24 billion	0.41	$204.10 million	$3.37	12.85

MSA Safety Incorporporated has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Greenbrier Companies. Greenbrier Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MSA Safety Incorporporated, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

MSA Safety Incorporporated pays an annual dividend of $2.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Greenbrier Companies pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. MSA Safety Incorporporated pays out 26.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Greenbrier Companies pays out 40.4% 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. MSA Safety Incorporporated has raised its dividend for 56 consecutive years and Greenbrier Companies has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.5% of MSA Safety Incorporporated shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.6% of Greenbrier Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of MSA Safety Incorporporated shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Greenbrier Companies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

MSA Safety Incorporporated beats Greenbrier Companies on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MSA Safety Incorporporated

MSA Safety Incorporated develops, manufactures, and supplies safety products and technology solutions that protect people and facility infrastructures in the fire service, energy, utility, construction, and industrial manufacturing applications, as well as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration industries worldwide. The company's core product offerings include fixed gas and flame detection systems, such as gas detection monitoring systems, and flame detectors and open-path infrared gas detectors; breathing apparatus products, including self-contained breathing apparatus; hand-held portable gas detection instruments to detect the presence or absence of various gases in the air; industrial head protection products; firefighter helmets and protective apparel; and fall protection equipment, such as confined space equipment, harnesses, lanyards, and self-retracting lifelines, as well as engineered systems. In addition, the company offers air-purifying respirators, eye and face protection products, ballistic helmets, and gas masks. It serves distributors and end-users through indirect and direct sales channels. The company offers its products under the V-Gard, Cairns, and Gallet brand names. MSA Safety Incorporated was founded in 1914 and is based in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania.

About Greenbrier Companies

The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets railroad freight car equipment in North America, Europe, and South America. It operates through three segments: Manufacturing; Maintenance Services; and Leasing & Management Services. The Manufacturing segment offers covered hopper cars, gondolas, open top hoppers, boxcars, center partition cars, tank cars, sustainable conversions, double-stack railcars, auto-max ii, multi-max, and multi-max plus products, intermodal cars, automobile transport, coil steel and metals, flat cars, sliding wall cars, pressurized tank cars, and non-pressurized tank cars. The Maintenance Services segment provides wheel services, including reconditioning of wheels and axles, new axle machining and finishing, and downsizing; operates a railcar repair, refurbishment, and maintenance network; and reconditions and manufactures railcar cushioning units, couplers, yokes, side frames, bolsters, and various other parts. The Leasing & Management Services segment offers operating leases and per diem leases for a fleet of approximately 13,400 railcars; and management services comprising railcar maintenance management, railcar accounting services, fleet management and logistics, administration, and railcar re-marketing. This segment provides management services for railroads, shippers, carriers, institutional investors, and other leasing and transportation companies. It serves railroads, leasing companies, financial institutions, shippers, carriers, and transportation companies. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon.