Reviewing INNOVATE (NYSE:VATE) & Griffon (NYSE:GFF)

INNOVATE (NYSE:VATE) and Griffon (NYSE:GFF) are both multi-sector conglomerates companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

34.3% of INNOVATE shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.2% of Griffon shares are held by institutional investors. 57.4% of INNOVATE shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.2% of Griffon shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares INNOVATE and Griffon”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
INNOVATE	$1.25 billion	0.12	-$60.60 million	($4.85)	-2.23
Griffon	$2.52 billion	1.49	$51.11 million	$0.13	630.18

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

Profitability

This table compares INNOVATE and Griffon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
INNOVATE	-3.96%	N/A	-5.76%
Griffon	0.31%	298.42%	12.31%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for INNOVATE and Griffon, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
INNOVATE	1	0	0	0	1.00
Griffon	0	2	2	1	2.80

Griffon has a consensus target price of $115.00, suggesting a potential upside of 40.38%. Given Griffon’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Griffon is more favorable than INNOVATE.

Volatility and Risk

INNOVATE has a beta of 2.27, indicating that its share price is 127% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Griffon has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Griffon beats INNOVATE on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About INNOVATE

INNOVATE Corp., through its subsidiaries, operates in infrastructure, life sciences, and spectrum areas in the United States. The Infrastructure segment provides industrial construction, structural steel, and facility maintenance services, such as fabrication and erection of structural steel and heavy steel plate services, and large-diameter water pipes and water storage tanks; fabrication of trusses and girders; and 3-D building information modeling and detailing for commercial, industrial, and infrastructure construction projects, such as buildings and office complexes, hotels and casinos, convention centers, sports arenas and stadiums, shopping malls, hospitals, dams, bridges, mines, metal processing, refineries, pulp and paper mills, and power plants. This segment also offers solutions for digital engineering, modeling and detailing, construction, and heavy equipment installation and facility services including maintenance, repair, and installation; and manufactures pollution control scrubbers, tunnel liners, pressure vessels, strainers, filters, separators, and customized products. The Life Sciences segment develops products to treat early osteoarthritis of the knee; and aesthetic and medical technologies for the skin. The Spectrum segment operates over-the-air broadcasting stations across the United States; and Azteca America, a Spanish-language broadcast network. The company was formerly known as HC2 Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to INNOVATE Corp. in September 2021. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides consumer and professional, and home and building products in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Home and Building Products, and Consumer and Professional Products. The Home and Building Products segment manufactures and markets residential and commercial sectional garage doors, rolling steel service doors, fire doors, shutters, steel security grilles, and room dividers for the use in commercial construction and repair, and home remodeling applications. The segment also sells related products, such as garage door openers. The Consumer and Professional Products segment manufactures and markets long-handled engineered tools, including spades, hoes, cultivators, weeders, post hole diggers, scrapers, edgers and forks; wheelbarrows and lawn carts; snow tools comprising pushers, roof rakes, sled sleigh shovels, scoops, and ice scrapers; and pruning products, such as pruners, loppers, shears, and other tools. The segment also offers striking tools, including axes, picks, mattocks, mauls, wood splitters, sledgehammers, pry bars, and repair handles; traditional and gardening hand tools comprising hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, adjustable wrenches, handsaws, tape measures, levels, clamps, trowels, cultivators, weeders, and other hand tools; indoor and outdoor planters and lawn accessories; and garden hoses and hose reels. In addition, the segment provides home organization products, including wire and wood shelving, containers, storage cabinets, and other closet and home organization accessories; residential, industrial, and commercial fans; and cleaning products, such as brooms, brushes, squeegees, and other cleaning products. The company was formerly known as Instrument Systems Corporation and changed its name to Griffon Corporation in June 1992. Griffon Corporation was founded in 1774 and is headquartered in New York, New York.