LECO vs SWK vs MMM Stock Comparison

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Stanley Black & Decker and 3M Prices as of Nov 5, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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MMM 3M Co
$187.73 +14.7% 1M +14.2% 1Y
Market cap
$97.01B
P/E
27.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$25.25B
Div. yield
1.64%
Industrial Machinery Industrials
3 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Stanley Black & Decker leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Stanley Black & Decker 5, Lincoln Electric Holdings 4, 3M 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionLECOSWKMMMLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $14.74B $17.15B $97.01B MMM
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 25.7x 20.2x 27.5x SWK
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 22.8x 19.9x 21.0x SWK
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +11.1% +0.4% +1.7% LECO
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 12.4% 5.5% 14.0% MMM
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 22.6% 8.5% 22.0% LECO
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.0x 1.9x 1.6x LECO
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 1.16% 2.89% 1.64% SWK
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +19.2% +65.7% +14.2% SWK
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +13.7%/yr -8.9%/yr +4.3%/yr LECO
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 31.0% 38.4% 27.4% MMM
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 54/100 65/100 46/100 SWK

Percentile Scorecard

LECOSWKMMM

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

AxisLECOSWKMMM
Valuation 31 #141 of 204 90 #22 of 204 26 #152 of 204
Growth 44 #107 of 191 92 #17 of 191 61 #75 of 191
Profitability 93 #14 of 189 62 #72 of 189 86 #28 of 189
Financial Health 46 #120 of 221 34 #146 of 221 19 #179 of 221
Shareholder Returns 54 #74 of 159 49 #82 of 159 39 #98 of 159
Overall 54 65 46
  • LECO ranked among 223 companies in Machinery
  • SWK ranked among 223 companies in Machinery
  • MMM ranked among 223 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodLECOSWKMMMSPY
1 month -1.2%+28.1%+14.7% -5.9%
3 months -2.4%+14.2%+3.9% -4.6%
6 months +0.4%+43.8%+30.6% +0.2%
Year to date +13.6%+55.3%+17.3% +7.5%
1 year +19.2%+65.7%+14.2% +8.2%
3 years +48.8%+33.1%+140.1% +68.3%
3 years, per year +14.2%+10.0%+33.9% +19.0%
5 years +89.9%-37.3%+23.5% +56.5%
5 years, per year +13.7%-8.9%+4.3% +9.4%
10 years +321.1%+0.7%+34.9% +251.5%
10 years, per year +15.5%+0.1%+3.0% +13.4%

Risk

MeasureLECOSWKMMMSPY
Volatility, 1Y 31.0%38.4%27.4% 13.6%
Downside volatility, 1Y 31.2%32.4%24.9% 14.2%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.081.370.77 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.621.710.52 0.60
Max drawdown, 5Y -35.3%-71.6%-53.4% -25.4%
From 52-week high -9.0%-2.5%-3.2% -5.9%
52-week high $298.88$118.24$194.02 $779.14
52-week low $220.64$62.12$141.20 $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.

MultipleLECOSWKMMM
P/E now vs peer median 25.7xmedian 23.4x 20.2xmedian 23.4x 27.5xmedian 23.4x
P/S now vs peer median 3.2xmedian 1.7x 1.1xmedian 1.7x 3.8xmedian 1.7x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 17.2xmedian 13.4x 10.1xmedian 13.4x 17.3xmedian 13.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 28.8xmedian 21.9x 10.0xmedian 21.9x 36.2xmedian 21.9x
P/B now vs peer median 9.5xmedian 2.1x 1.9xmedian 2.1x 23.3xmedian 2.1x
PEG now vs peer median 3.69median 1.02 0.18median 1.02 0.77median 1.02

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 monthsLECOSWKMMM
Revenue $4.64B $15.22B $25.25B
Gross profit $1.65B $5.14B $9.98B
Operating income $802.52M $1.60B $4.74B
Net income $575.27M $841.20M $3.58B
Free cash flow $511.89M $1.72B $2.68B
R&D – – $1.21B
EPS (diluted) $10.48 $5.66 $6.77
Cash & equivalents $283.24M $741.20M $4.84B
Total debt $1.15B $4.70B $15.00B
Shares (diluted) 54.87M 148.63M 522.60M
Enterprise value $13.60B $15.20B $79.42B

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
MetricLECOSWKMMM
P/E 25.7x 20.2x 27.5x
P/FCF 28.8x 10.0x 36.2x
P/Operating cash flow 22.1x 8.6x 26.7x
P/S 3.2x 1.1x 3.8x
P/B 9.5x 1.9x 23.3x
P/Tangible book 9.5x 2.9x 45.8x
EV/EBITDA 17.2x 10.1x 17.3x
EV/EBIT 19.4x 13.2x 22.6x
EV/Revenue 3.4x 1.4x 4.2x
EV/FCF 30.5x 12.3x 39.9x
EV/Operating cash flow 23.4x 10.6x 29.4x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 3.69 0.18 0.77

Growth

14 metrics
MetricLECOSWKMMM
Revenue growth (1Y) 11.1% 0.4% 1.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 4.5% -1.7% 10.7%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 7.7% 13.9% -1.8%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 5.5% 12.8% 17.0%
Operating income growth (1Y) 12.9% 96.9% -3.7%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 7.0% 166.3% 33.4%
Net income growth (1Y) 9.6% 91.8% 4.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 4.9% 164.6% 35.4%
EPS growth (1Y) 11.0% 96.1% 7.1%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 7.0% 112.3% 35.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 0.7% 186.3% 42.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 0.5% 22.8% -18.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -6.3% 365.0% 68.6%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -3.6% 32.4% -18.0%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricLECOSWKMMM
Gross margin 35.5% 33.8% 39.5%
EBITDA margin 19.5% 13.7% 24.4%
Operating margin 17.3% 10.5% 18.8%
Pretax margin 16.2% 7.7% 17.5%
Net margin 12.4% 5.5% 14.0%
FCF margin 11.0% 11.3% 10.6%
Operating cash flow margin 14.4% 13.1% 14.4%
Return on equity 37.0% 9.5% 101.3%
Return on assets 14.9% 4.2% 9.8%
Return on invested capital 22.6% 8.5% 22.0%
Return on capital employed 27.7% 10.3% 18.7%
Asset turnover 1.2x 0.8x 0.7x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 2.4x 1.0x
Stock comp / revenue 0.5% 0.6% 0.8%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricLECOSWKMMM
Debt / assets 29.5% 23.5% 37.9%
Debt / equity 0.7x 0.5x 3.6x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.0x 1.9x 1.6x
Debt / FCF 2.2x 2.7x 5.6x
Liabilities / assets 60.1% 55.9% 89.5%
Equity / assets 39.9% 44.1% 10.5%
Interest coverage – 3.7x –
Current ratio 1.9x 1.4x 1.4x
Quick ratio 1.0x 0.5x 0.8x
Cash ratio 0.3x 0.2x 0.4x
Altman Z-score 7.59 2.65 4.23

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricLECOSWKMMM
Dividend yield 1.2% 2.9% 1.6%
Net buyback yield 1.8% 2.9% 2.8%
Shareholder yield 3.0% 5.8% 4.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) 30.0% 59.4% 44.8%
Payout ratio (FCF) 33.7% 29.1% 59.9%
Dividend growth (1Y) 3.5% 0.2% 3.2%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 6.3% 1.3% -21.4%

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.

ConsensusLECOSWKMMM
Forward P/E 22.8xFY2026 19.9xFY2026 21.0xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $11.94FY2026 $5.80FY2026 $8.92FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +21.0%FY2026 +24.2%FY2026 +10.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +0.2% +5.3% +16.6%
Revenue, next fiscal year $4.93BFY2026 $16.13BFY2026 $23.87BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +16.5%FY2026 +6.6%FY2026 -1.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +5.2% +0.4% +17.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersLECOSWKMMM
Held by institutions 81.3% 95.7% 74.5%
Institutions holding 705 773 2,213
Change in shares held, QoQ +5.5% +5.3% +0.8%
Institutions buying 299 417 916
Institutions selling 266 245 840
Buyers to sellers 1.12 1.70 1.09

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.

LECOSWKMMM
LECO 1.00 0.52 0.45
SWK 0.52 1.00 0.58
MMM 0.45 0.58 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, LECO, SWK and MMM?

3M (MMM) is the largest by market capitalisation: Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) $14.74B, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) $17.15B, 3M (MMM) $97.01B.

Which stock is cheaper, LECO, SWK and MMM?

Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) 25.7x, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) 20.2x, 3M (MMM) 27.5x). On next year's consensus earnings, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) is cheapest (Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) 22.8x, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) 19.9x, 3M (MMM) 21.0x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) +11.1%, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) +0.4%, 3M (MMM) +1.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

3M (MMM) has the highest net margin (Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) 12.4%, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) 5.5%, 3M (MMM) 14.0%). On return on invested capital, Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) leads (Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) 22.6%, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) 8.5%, 3M (MMM) 22.0%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) returned the most: Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) +19.2%, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) +65.7%, 3M (MMM) +14.2%. Over five years, Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) compounded fastest (Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) +13.7%/yr, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) -8.9%/yr, 3M (MMM) +4.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) has the highest dividend yield: Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) 1.16%, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) 2.89%, 3M (MMM) 1.64%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, 3M (MMM) has been the steadiest (Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) 31.0%, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) 38.4%, 3M (MMM) 27.4%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, LECO, SWK and MMM?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Stanley Black & Decker (SWK) leads on 5. 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.