Lincoln Electric vs Timken
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Timken is the larger business, with $4.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $4.2B for Lincoln Electric.
- Lincoln Electric grew revenue faster (5.6%, against 0.2%).
- Lincoln Electric kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (17.0% operating margin, against 11.8%).
- Lincoln Electric turned more of its sales into free cash flow (12.6% FCF margin, against 8.9%).
- Lincoln Electric earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (24.5%, against 8.6%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Timken’s earnings: a P/E of 29.6x against 25.5x for Lincoln Electric.
| Latest fiscal year | LECO · FY25 | TKR · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $14.1B | $7.7B |
| Revenue | $4.2B | $4.6B |
| Free cash flow | $534M | $406M |
| Net income | $521M | $288M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 5.6% | 0.2% |
| 5-year growth | 9.8% | 5.5% |
| Share count change | −2.3% | −0.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 36.3% | 30.4% |
| Operating margin | 17.0% | 11.8% |
| Net margin | 12.3% | 6.3% |
| FCF margin | 12.6% | 8.9% |
| Return on capital | 24.5% | 8.6% |
| Return on equity | 37.2% | 9.6% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $841M | $1.6B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.0x | 2.0x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $507M | $156M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 25.5x | 29.6x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
LECO $2.3B
TKR $2.7B
FY17
LECO $2.6B
TKR $3.0B
FY18
LECO $3.0B
TKR $3.6B
FY19
LECO $3.0B
TKR $3.8B
FY20
LECO $2.7B
TKR $3.5B
FY21
LECO $3.2B
TKR $4.1B
FY22
LECO $3.8B
TKR $4.5B
FY23
LECO $4.2B
TKR $4.8B
FY24
LECO $4.0B
TKR $4.6B
FY25
LECO $4.2B
TKR $4.6B
LECO
TKR
Operating margin
FY16
LECO 12.5%
TKR 9.2%
FY17
LECO 14.4%
TKR 10.0%
FY18
LECO 12.4%
TKR 12.7%
FY19
LECO 12.4%
TKR 13.6%
FY20
LECO 10.6%
TKR 13.0%
FY21
LECO 14.3%
TKR 12.4%
FY22
LECO 16.3%
TKR 13.5%
FY23
LECO 17.1%
TKR 13.8%
FY24
LECO 15.9%
TKR 13.4%
FY25
LECO 17.0%
TKR 11.8%
LECO
TKR
Free cash flow
FY16
LECO $263M
TKR $266M
FY17
LECO $273M
TKR $132M
FY18
LECO $258M
TKR $220M
FY19
LECO $334M
TKR $410M
FY20
LECO $292M
TKR $456M
FY21
LECO $303M
TKR $239M
FY22
LECO $312M
TKR $285M
FY23
LECO $577M
TKR $357M
FY24
LECO $482M
TKR $306M
FY25
LECO $534M
TKR $406M
LECO
TKR
Return on capital
FY16
LECO 20.1%
TKR 10.5%
FY17
LECO 21.7%
TKR 12.3%
FY18
LECO 23.0%
TKR 13.1%
FY19
LECO 23.0%
TKR 12.2%
FY20
LECO 17.1%
TKR 9.7%
FY21
LECO 29.8%
TKR 11.6%
FY22
LECO 29.2%
TKR 12.1%
FY23
LECO 28.7%
TKR 11.7%
FY24
LECO 23.7%
TKR 9.9%
FY25
LECO 24.5%
TKR 8.6%
LECO
TKR
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.