IDEX (NYSE:IEX) vs. Morgan Advanced Materials (OTCMKTS:MCRUF) Critical Analysis

IDEX (NYSE:IEX) and Morgan Advanced Materials (OTCMKTS:MCRUF) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares IDEX and Morgan Advanced Materials’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IDEX	14.38%	15.29%	8.89%
Morgan Advanced Materials	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for IDEX and Morgan Advanced Materials, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IDEX	0	3	6	0	2.67
Morgan Advanced Materials	0	1	0	0	2.00

IDEX presently has a consensus price target of $240.22, indicating a potential upside of 13.77%. Given IDEX’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe IDEX is more favorable than Morgan Advanced Materials.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares IDEX and Morgan Advanced Materials”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IDEX	$3.46 billion	4.52	$483.20 million	$6.76	31.24
Morgan Advanced Materials	$1.31 billion	0.62	$27.83 million	N/A	N/A

IDEX has higher revenue and earnings than Morgan Advanced Materials.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.0% of IDEX shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of IDEX 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.

Volatility & Risk

IDEX has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Morgan Advanced Materials has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

IDEX beats Morgan Advanced Materials on 12 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IDEX

IDEX Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides applied solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Fluid & Metering Technologies (FMT), Health & Science Technologies (HST), and Fire & Safety/Diversified Products (FSDP). The FMT segment designs, produces, and distributes positive displacement pumps, valves, small volume provers, flow meters, injectors, and other fluid-handling pump modules and systems, as well as flow monitoring and other services for the food, chemical, general industrial, water and wastewater, agricultural, and energy industries. The HST segment designs, produces, and distributes precision fluidics positive displacement pumps, powder and liquid processing technologies, drying systems, micro-precision components, pneumatic components and sealing solutions, high performance molded and extruded sealing components, custom mechanical and shaft seals, engineered hygienic mixers and valves, biocompatible medical devices and implantables, air compressors and blowers, optical components and coatings, laboratory and commercial equipment, and precision photonic solutions. This segment serves food and beverage, life sciences, analytical instruments, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical, industrial, semiconductor, automotive/transportation, medical/dental, energy, cosmetics, marine, chemical, wastewater and water treatment, research and aerospace/defense markets. The FSDP segment designs, produces, and distributes firefighting pumps, valves and controls, rescue tools, lifting bags, and other components and systems for the fire and rescue industry; engineered stainless steel banding and clamping devices for various industrial and commercial applications; and precision equipment for dispensing, metering, and mixing colorants and paints used in retail and commercial businesses. IDEX Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.

About Morgan Advanced Materials

Morgan Advanced Materials plc operates as a materials science and application engineering company primarily the United Kingdom. It serves customers in the industrial, transportation, petrochemical and chemical, energy, semiconductor and electronics, healthcare, and security and defense markets. The company was formerly known as The Morgan Crucible Company plc and changed its name to Morgan Advanced Materials plc in March 2013. Morgan Advanced Materials plc was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Windsor, the United Kingdom.