Critical Review: Hyster-Yale (NYSE:HY) vs. Tennant (NYSE:TNC)

Tennant (NYSE:TNC) and Hyster-Yale (NYSE:HY) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.3% of Tennant shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 46.5% of Hyster-Yale shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Tennant shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 37.8% of Hyster-Yale shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Tennant has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hyster-Yale has a beta of 1.63, indicating that its stock price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Tennant and Hyster-Yale, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tennant	1	2	1	0	2.00
Hyster-Yale	1	1	2	0	2.25

Tennant presently has a consensus price target of $91.00, indicating a potential upside of 36.30%. Hyster-Yale has a consensus price target of $47.50, indicating a potential upside of 45.91%. Given Hyster-Yale’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hyster-Yale is more favorable than Tennant.

Dividends

Tennant pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Hyster-Yale pays an annual dividend of $1.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. Tennant pays out 121.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Hyster-Yale pays out -22.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Tennant has raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years and Hyster-Yale has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Hyster-Yale is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Tennant and Hyster-Yale’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tennant	1.50%	13.32%	6.07%
Hyster-Yale	-3.33%	-21.03%	-4.87%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Tennant and Hyster-Yale”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tennant	$1.20 billion	0.95	$43.80 million	$1.02	65.46
Hyster-Yale	$3.77 billion	0.15	-$60.10 million	($6.56)	-4.96

Tennant has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hyster-Yale. Hyster-Yale is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Tennant, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Tennant beats Hyster-Yale on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tennant

Tennant Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets floor cleaning equipment in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers a suite of products, including floor maintenance and cleaning equipment, detergent-free and other sustainable cleaning technologies, aftermarket parts and consumables, equipment maintenance and repair services, and asset management solutions. It provides business solutions, such as financing, rental, and leasing programs, as well as machine-to-machine asset management solutions. The company offers its products under the Tennant, Nobles, Alfa Uma Empresa Tennant, IPC, Gaomei, and Rongen brands, as well as private-label brands. Its products are used in retail establishments and distribution centers; factories and warehouses; and public venues, such as arenas and stadiums, office buildings, schools and universities, hospitals and clinics, and other environments. The company markets its products to contract cleaners and businesses through direct sales and service organizations, as well as through a network of authorized distributors. Tennant Company was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

About Hyster-Yale

Hyster-Yale, Inc., through its subsidiaries, designs, engineers, manufactures, sells, and services a line of lift trucks, attachments, and aftermarket parts worldwide. The company manufactures components, such as frames, masts, and transmissions; and assembles lift trucks. It markets its products primarily under the Hyster and Yale brand names to independent Hyster and Yale retail dealerships. The company also sells aftermarket parts under the Hyster and Yale, as well as UNISOURCE and PREMIER brands to Hyster and Yale dealers for the service of competitor lift trucks. In addition, it produces and distributes attachments, forks, and lift tables under the Bolzoni, Auramo, and Meyer brand names; and designs and produces products in the port equipment and rough terrain forklift markets. Further, the company designs, manufactures, and sells hydrogen fuel-cell stacks and engines. It serves light and heavy manufacturers, trucking and automotive companies, rental companies, building materials and paper suppliers, lumber, metal products, warehouses, retailers, food distributors, container handling companies, and U.S. and non-U.S. governmental agencies. The company was formerly known as Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Inc. and changed its name to Hyster-Yale, Inc. in June 2024. Hyster-Yale, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.