Acuity, Inc. (AYI) vs Plug Power, Inc. (PLUG)

Acuity, Inc. and Plug Power, Inc. are both Electrical Equipment & Parts companies. Acuity, Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $9.0B against $2.1B — 4.4× the size. Plug Power, Inc. has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; Acuity, Inc. trades at 17.3×. Plug Power, Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 10.6% against 6.82%. Acuity, Inc. has the higher net margin (11.5% vs −220.6%) and the higher return on invested capital (14.7% vs −74.2%). Across the 19 metrics below, Acuity, Inc. leads on 15 and Plug Power, Inc. on 4.

Valuation

Metric AYI PLUG Electrical Equipment & Parts median
P/E 17.31 n/m 31.20
P/S 1.96 2.58 2.28
P/B 3.19 3.27 3.19
Price to free cash flow 12.15 n/m 27.15
EV/EBITDA 11.00 n/m 15.80
EV/Sales 1.97 3.25 2.38
Earnings yield 5.78% (91.30%) (5.87%)
Free cash flow yield 8.23% (27.17%) 0.00%

Profitability

Metric AYI PLUG Electrical Equipment & Parts median
Gross margin 50.64% (18.55%) 25.38%
Operating margin 15.38% (172.77%) 0.00%
Net margin 11.45% (220.59%) 0.00%
Free cash flow margin 16.11% (70.20%) 0.00%
Return on equity 0.00% (139.62%) 0.14%
Return on assets 11.04% (59.19%) (1.50%)
Return on invested capital 14.70% (74.22%) 0.00%

Growth

Metric AYI PLUG Electrical Equipment & Parts median
Revenue growth (TTM) 6.82% 10.59% 7.92%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 36.12% 47.01% 27.37%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 6.05% 0.00% 9.92%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 11.64% 0.00% 0.00%

Health

Metric AYI PLUG Electrical Equipment & Parts median
Debt to equity 0.23 1.38 0.16
Current ratio 1.70 2.32 2.31
Net debt to EBITDA 0.07 (0.11) 0.26

Dividend

Metric AYI PLUG Electrical Equipment & Parts median
Dividend yield 0.26% — 0.48%
Payout ratio 0.05 — 0.10

Size

Metric AYI PLUG Electrical Equipment & Parts median
Market cap 9.04b 2.07b 157.22m

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