Lincoln Electric vs Snap-on
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Snap-on is the larger business, with $5.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $4.2B for Lincoln Electric.
- Lincoln Electric grew revenue faster (5.6%, against 0.9%).
- Snap-on kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (25.8% operating margin, against 17.0%).
- Snap-on turned more of its sales into free cash flow (19.5% FCF margin, against 12.6%).
- Lincoln Electric earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (24.5%, against 19.2%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Lincoln Electric’s earnings: a P/E of 25.5x against 18.6x for Snap-on.
| Latest fiscal year | LECO · FY25 | SNA · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $14.1B | $18.7B |
| Revenue | $4.2B | $5.2B |
| Free cash flow | $534M | $1.0B |
| Net income | $521M | $1.0B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 5.6% | 0.9% |
| 5-year growth | 9.8% | 5.5% |
| Share count change | −2.3% | −0.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 36.3% | — |
| Operating margin | 17.0% | 25.8% |
| Net margin | 12.3% | 19.7% |
| FCF margin | 12.6% | 19.5% |
| Return on capital | 24.5% | 19.2% |
| Return on equity | 37.2% | 18.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $841M | −$421M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.0x | −0.3x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $507M | $791M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 25.5x | 18.6x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 6 |
FY16
LECO $2.3B
SNA $3.7B
FY17
LECO $2.6B
SNA $4.0B
FY18
LECO $3.0B
SNA $4.1B
FY19
LECO $3.0B
SNA $4.1B
FY20
LECO $2.7B
SNA $3.9B
FY21
LECO $3.2B
SNA $4.6B
FY22
LECO $3.8B
SNA $4.8B
FY23
LECO $4.2B
SNA $5.1B
FY24
LECO $4.0B
SNA $5.1B
FY25
LECO $4.2B
SNA $5.2B
LECO
SNA
FY16
LECO 12.5%
SNA 23.2%
FY17
LECO 14.4%
SNA 22.1%
FY18
LECO 12.4%
SNA 23.5%
FY19
LECO 12.4%
SNA 23.7%
FY20
LECO 10.6%
SNA 22.3%
FY21
LECO 14.3%
SNA 24.4%
FY22
LECO 16.3%
SNA 24.9%
FY23
LECO 17.1%
SNA 25.7%
FY24
LECO 15.9%
SNA 26.3%
FY25
LECO 17.0%
SNA 25.8%
LECO
SNA
FY16
LECO $263M
SNA $502M
FY17
LECO $273M
SNA $527M
FY18
LECO $258M
SNA $674M
FY19
LECO $334M
SNA $575M
FY20
LECO $292M
SNA $943M
FY21
LECO $303M
SNA $897M
FY22
LECO $312M
SNA $591M
FY23
LECO $577M
SNA $1.1B
FY24
LECO $482M
SNA $1.1B
FY25
LECO $534M
SNA $1.0B
LECO
SNA
FY16
LECO 20.1%
SNA 17.7%
FY17
LECO 21.7%
SNA 16.2%
FY18
LECO 23.0%
SNA 18.0%
FY19
LECO 23.0%
SNA 17.4%
FY20
LECO 17.1%
SNA —
FY21
LECO 29.8%
SNA —
FY22
LECO 29.2%
SNA 19.6%
FY23
LECO 28.7%
SNA 19.9%
FY24
LECO 23.7%
SNA 19.9%
FY25
LECO 24.5%
SNA 19.2%
LECO
SNA
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.