AOS vs HELE vs LII Stock Comparison

Smith A O, Helen Of Troy and Lennox International Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
AOS Smith A O Corp
$63.51 +9.4% 1M -3.2% 1Y
Market cap
$8.54B
P/E
17.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.80B
Div. yield
0.02%
HVAC Industrials
3 wins
HELE Helen Of Troy Ltd
$29.71 +5.5% 1M +48.0% 1Y
Market cap
$671.71M
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$1.83B
Div. yield
–
Home Appliances Consumer Discretionary
2 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Lennox International leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Lennox International 7, Smith A O 3, Helen Of Troy 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAOSHELELIILeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $8.54B $671.71M $11.79B LII
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 17.3x -6.8x 15.7x LII
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 17.6x 7.9x 15.4x HELE
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months -0.7% +0.3% +1.9% LII
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 13.0% -5.4% 13.8% LII
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 20.8% 1.6% 27.6% LII
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.6x 8.3x 1.4x AOS
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.02% 0.00% 0.02% AOS
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -3.2% +48.0% -28.6% HELE
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -2.8%/yr -33.3%/yr +3.1%/yr LII
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 27.6% 54.0% 42.8% AOS
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 60/100 42/100 63/100 LII

Percentile Scorecard

AOSHELELII

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisAOSHELELII
Valuation 67 #19 of 55 78 #10 of 41 61 #22 of 55
Growth 32 #35 of 51 43 #24 of 41 56 #23 of 51
Profitability 90 #6 of 49 46 #21 of 38 100 #1 of 49
Financial Health 70 #17 of 55 27 #31 of 42 28 #40 of 55
Shareholder Returns 41 #24 of 40 15 #23 of 27 72 #12 of 40
Overall 60 42 63
  • AOS ranked among 59 companies in Construction Products
  • HELE ranked among 44 companies in Household Durables
  • LII ranked among 59 companies in Construction Products

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodAOSHELELIISPY
1 month +9.4%+5.5%-3.3% +0.7%
3 months +6.2%+6.6%-16.6% +3.7%
6 months +2.7%+28.3%-34.9% +7.1%
Year to date -5.0%+39.8%-28.3% +12.8%
1 year -3.2%+48.0%-28.6% +11.9%
3 years -8.6%-69.4%-4.7% +85.2%
3 years, per year -3.0%-32.6%-1.6% +22.8%
5 years -13.1%-86.8%+16.3% +67.6%
5 years, per year -2.8%-33.3%+3.1% +10.9%
10 years +41.2%-62.7%+137.8% +262.0%
10 years, per year +3.5%-9.4%+9.0% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureAOSHELELIISPY
Volatility, 1Y 27.6%54.0%42.8% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 26.3%48.5%48.6% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.700.971.29 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.110.89-0.67 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -43.4%-94.5%-51.0% -25.4%
From 52-week high -21.1%-1.7%-39.2% -1.2%
52-week high $80.47$30.22$572.95 $779.14
52-week low $55.34$13.88$332.41 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleAOSHELELII
P/E now vs peer median 17.4xmedian 20.3x -7.0xmedian 15.8x 16.0xmedian 20.3x
P/S now vs peer median 2.2xmedian 1.6x 0.4xmedian 0.7x 2.2xmedian 1.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 11.8xmedian 12.6x 17.1xmedian 9.6x 11.7xmedian 12.6x
P/FCF now vs peer median 15.2xmedian 16.9x 4.7xmedian 12.1x 14.3xmedian 16.9x
P/B now vs peer median 4.7xmedian 3.0x 0.8xmedian 1.2x 9.0xmedian 3.0x
PEG now vs peer median 0.77median 1.13 0.18median 0.63 1.24median 1.13

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsAOSHELELII
Revenue $3.80B $1.83B $5.45B
Gross profit $1.47B $864.98M $1.78B
Operating income $668.30M $23.94M $1.03B
Net income $494.60M -$99.23M $749.90M
Free cash flow $561.70M $147.21M $835.70M
EPS (diluted) $3.63 $-4.11 $21.74
Cash & equivalents $234.50M $22.58M $43.30M
Total debt $673.10M $3.17B $1.62B
Shares (diluted) 136.10M 24.15M 34.50M
Enterprise value $7.73B $581.42M $11.61B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricAOSHELELII
P/E 17.4x -7.0x 16.0x
P/FCF 15.2x 4.7x 14.3x
P/Operating cash flow 13.9x 3.9x 12.0x
P/S 2.2x 0.4x 2.2x
P/B 4.7x 0.8x 9.0x
P/Tangible book 6.9x 1.4x 12.1x
EV/EBITDA 11.8x 17.1x 11.7x
EV/EBIT 13.4x 56.1x 13.1x
EV/Revenue 2.4x 0.7x 2.5x
EV/FCF 16.0x 9.1x 16.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 14.6x 7.5x 13.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.77 0.18 1.24

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAOSHELELII
Revenue growth (1Y) -0.7% 0.3% 1.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 0.0% -3.1% 3.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -0.4% 0.5% -1.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 0.1% -1.7% 6.3%
Operating income growth (1Y) -7.2% 103.7% -6.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -3.9% -52.1% 11.7%
Net income growth (1Y) -6.8% 84.9% -13.3%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 18.2% -39.6% 11.6%
EPS growth (1Y) -3.5% 85.7% -11.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 22.5% -39.5% 12.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -6.6% 97.1% 44.6%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -0.2% -25.9% 20.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -1.8% 192.7% 56.4%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 0.5% -25.7% 27.5%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAOSHELELII
Gross margin 38.6% 47.4% 32.6%
EBITDA margin 20.1% 4.3% 21.2%
Operating margin 17.6% 1.3% 18.8%
Pretax margin 16.8% -1.5% 17.6%
Net margin 13.0% -5.4% 13.8%
FCF margin 14.8% 8.1% 15.3%
Operating cash flow margin 16.1% 9.8% 18.2%
Return on equity 27.0% -11.7% 57.4%
Return on assets 13.6% -4.8% 16.2%
Return on invested capital 20.8% 1.6% 27.6%
Return on capital employed 24.0% 1.5% 36.9%
Asset turnover 1.0x 0.9x 1.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x -1.8x 1.3x
Stock comp / revenue 0.4% 1.0% 0.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAOSHELELII
Debt / assets 18.4% 32.1% 34.6%
Debt / equity 0.4x 0.8x 1.2x
Net debt / EBITDA 0.6x 8.3x 1.4x
Debt / FCF 1.2x 4.6x 1.9x
Liabilities / assets 50.1% 59.3% 71.9%
Equity / assets 49.9% 40.7% 28.1%
Interest coverage 26.4x 0.5x 16.2x
Current ratio 1.6x 1.7x 1.2x
Quick ratio 1.0x 0.7x 0.5x
Cash ratio 0.3x 0.0x 0.0x
Altman Z-score 6.22 1.74 5.70

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAOSHELELII
Dividend yield 2.3% – 1.5%
Net buyback yield 3.8% -0.1% 3.7%
Shareholder yield 6.1% -0.1% 5.3%
Payout ratio (earnings) 40.3% – 24.4%
Payout ratio (FCF) 35.5% – 21.9%
Dividend growth (1Y) 2.4% – 8.7%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 3.1% – 6.1%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusAOSHELELII
Forward P/E 17.6xFY2026 7.9xFY2026 15.4xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.60FY2026 $3.74FY2026 $22.65FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -6.5%FY2026 +5.4%FY2026 -2.2%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +15.0% +13.9% +7.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year $3.73BFY2026 $1.76BFY2026 $5.75BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -2.6%FY2026 -1.8%FY2026 +10.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +3.9% -2.6% +7.7%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAOSHELELII
Held by institutions 91.9% 96.3% 77.3%
Institutions holding 615 199 656
Change in shares held, QoQ +7.1% +5.7% +1.8%
Institutions buying 316 121 316
Institutions selling 226 46 236
Buyers to sellers 1.40 2.63 1.34

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

AOSHELELII
AOS 1.00 0.33 0.61
HELE 0.33 1.00 0.21
LII 0.61 0.21 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, AOS, HELE and LII?

Lennox International (LII) is the largest by market capitalisation: Smith A O (AOS) $8.54B, Helen Of Troy (HELE) $671.71M, Lennox International (LII) $11.79B.

Which stock is cheaper, AOS, HELE and LII?

Lennox International (LII) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Smith A O (AOS) 17.3x, Helen Of Troy (HELE) -6.8x, Lennox International (LII) 15.7x). On next year's consensus earnings, Helen Of Troy (HELE) is cheapest (Smith A O (AOS) 17.6x, Helen Of Troy (HELE) 7.9x, Lennox International (LII) 15.4x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Lennox International (LII) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Smith A O (AOS) -0.7%, Helen Of Troy (HELE) +0.3%, Lennox International (LII) +1.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

Lennox International (LII) has the highest net margin (Smith A O (AOS) 13.0%, Helen Of Troy (HELE) -5.4%, Lennox International (LII) 13.8%). On return on invested capital, Lennox International (LII) leads (Smith A O (AOS) 20.8%, Helen Of Troy (HELE) 1.6%, Lennox International (LII) 27.6%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Helen Of Troy (HELE) returned the most: Smith A O (AOS) -3.2%, Helen Of Troy (HELE) +48.0%, Lennox International (LII) -28.6%. Over five years, Lennox International (LII) compounded fastest (Smith A O (AOS) -2.8%/yr, Helen Of Troy (HELE) -33.3%/yr, Lennox International (LII) +3.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Smith A O (AOS) has the highest dividend yield: Smith A O (AOS) 0.02%, Helen Of Troy (HELE) 0.00%, Lennox International (LII) 0.02%. Helen Of Troy (HELE) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Smith A O (AOS) has been the steadiest (Smith A O (AOS) 27.6%, Helen Of Troy (HELE) 54.0%, Lennox International (LII) 42.8%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, AOS, HELE and LII?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Lennox International (LII) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.