Reviewing Gardner Denver Holdings (GDI) and Roper Technologies (ROP)

Gardner Denver Holdings (NYSE: GDI) and Roper Technologies (NYSE:ROP) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Dividends

Roper Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Gardner Denver Holdings does not pay a dividend. Roper Technologies pays out 21.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Gardner Denver Holdings has increased its dividend for 18 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Gardner Denver Holdings and Roper Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gardner Denver Holdings	N/A	N/A	N/A
Roper Technologies	16.44%	13.66%	6.07%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Gardner Denver Holdings and Roper Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gardner Denver Holdings	0	1	8	0	2.89
Roper Technologies	0	2	7	0	2.78

Gardner Denver Holdings presently has a consensus target price of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.59%. Roper Technologies has a consensus target price of $240.60, indicating a potential upside of 5.62%. Given Gardner Denver Holdings’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Gardner Denver Holdings is more favorable than Roper Technologies.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

4.9% of Gardner Denver Holdings shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.7% of Roper Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Roper Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Gardner Denver Holdings and Roper Technologies’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gardner Denver Holdings	$2.10 billion	2.09	$214.25 million	N/A	N/A
Roper Technologies	$4.18 billion	5.57	$1.41 billion	$6.68	34.10

Roper Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Gardner Denver Holdings.

Summary

Roper Technologies beats Gardner Denver Holdings on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

Gardner Denver Holdings Company Profile

Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc. is a global provider of mission-critical flow control and compression equipments and associated aftermarket parts, consumables and services. The Company operates through three business segments: Industry, Energy and Medical. Industry segment designs, manufactures, markets and services a range of air compression, vacuum and blower products. Energy segment supplies positive displacement pumps, liquid ring vacuum pumps, compressors and integrated systems, engineered fluid loading and transfer equipment and associated aftermarket parts. Medical segment designs, manufactures and supplies medical equipment, laboratory vacuum and automated liquid handling end-markets The Company’s products are sold under a range of brands namely Gardner Denver, CompAir, Nash, Emco Wheaton, Robuschi, Elmo Rietschle and Thomas.

Roper Technologies Company Profile

Roper Technologies, Inc. is a technology company. The Company operates businesses that design and develop software and engineered products and solutions for various end markets, including healthcare, transportation, commercial construction, food, energy, water, education and academic research. The Company operates in four segments: Medical & Scientific Imaging, which offers products and software in medical applications, and digital imaging products; RF Technology, which provides radio frequency identification (RFID) communication technology and software solutions; Industrial Technology, which produces fluid handling pumps, materials analysis equipment and consumables, leak testing equipment, flow measurement and metering equipment, and Energy Systems & Controls, which produces control systems, fluid properties testing equipment, industrial valves and controls, vibration sensors and controls, and non-destructive inspection and measurement products and solutions.