How to buy AOSmith Corporation stock | 54.96

A. O. Smith Corporation is a specialty industrial machinery business based in the US. AOSmith Corporation shares (AOS) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. AOSmith Corporation employs 15,100 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$2.8 billion.

How to buy shares in AOSmith Corporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for AOSmith Corporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: AOS. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until AOSmith Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$54.96, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of AOSmith Corporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of AOSmith Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted AOSmith Corporation's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, AOSmith Corporation's share price has had significant positive movement.

Its last market close was USD$54.96, which is 19.78% up on its pre-crash value of USD$44.09 and 62.58% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$33.805.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of AOSmith Corporation shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$841.94 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$1,299.80.

AOSmith Corporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of AOS stocks over time.

AOSmith Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-14.

Latest market close	USD$54.96
52-week range	USD$33.805 - USD$58.05
50-day moving average	USD$51.7683
200-day moving average	USD$47.2396
Wall St. target price	USD$54.5
PE ratio	31.4231
Dividend yield	USD$1.04 (1.88%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$1.822

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Is it a good time to buy AOSmith Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of A. O. Smith Corporation by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

AOSmith Corporation price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $54.96 from 2020-10-19

1 week (2020-11-25)	-2.50%
1 month (2020-11-02)	3.99%
3 months (2020-09-03)	12.69%
6 months (2020-06-03)	10.25%

1 year (2019-12-03)	17.69%
2 years (2018-12-03)	14.40%
3 years (2017-12-01)	-12.50%
5 years (2015-12-03)	-28.92%

Is AOSmith Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing AOSmith Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of AOSmith Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

AOSmith Corporation's P/E ratio

AOSmith Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 31x. In other words, AOSmith Corporation shares trade at around 31x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

AOSmith Corporation's PEG ratio

AOSmith Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 3.1702. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into AOSmith Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

AOSmith Corporation's EBITDA

AOSmith Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$458.4 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a AOSmith Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

AOSmith Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	USD$2.8 billion
Operating margin TTM	13.62%
Gross profit TTM	USD$1.2 billion
Return on assets TTM	7.68%
Return on equity TTM	17.62%
Profit margin	10.72%
Book value	$10.272
Market capitalisation	USD$8.9 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting AOSmith Corporation shares

There are currently 5.1 million AOSmith Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as AOSmith Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 13% down from 5.9 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting AOSmith Corporation shares can be evaluated.

AOSmith Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

AOSmith Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of AOSmith Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of AOSmith Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 1.2 million). AOSmith Corporation's SIR currently stands at 4.3. In other words for every 100,000 AOSmith Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 4300 shares are currently held short.

However AOSmith Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of AOSmith Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable AOSmith Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case AOSmith Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.03% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 AOSmith Corporation shares in existence, roughly 30 shares are currently held short) or 0.0433% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable AOSmith Corporation shares, roughly 43 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against AOSmith Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short AOSmith Corporation stock.

AOSmith Corporation's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like AOSmith Corporation.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

AOSmith Corporation's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 30.56

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and AOSmith Corporation's overall score of 30.56 (as at 10/01/2020) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 66th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like AOSmith Corporation is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

AOSmith Corporation's environmental score

Environmental score: 9.03/100

AOSmith Corporation's environmental score of 9.03 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that AOSmith Corporation is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

AOSmith Corporation's social score

Social score: 14.92/100

AOSmith Corporation's social score of 14.92 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that AOSmith Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

AOSmith Corporation's governance score

Governance score: 8.12/100

AOSmith Corporation's governance score puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that AOSmith Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

AOSmith Corporation's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. AOSmith Corporation scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that AOSmith Corporation has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

A. O. Smith Corporation was last rated for ESG on: 2020-10-01.

Total ESG score	30.56
Total ESG percentile	66.16
Environmental score	9.03
Environmental score percentile	1
Social score	14.92
Social score percentile	1
Governance score	8.12
Governance score percentile	1
Level of controversy	2

AOSmith Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 52.69% of net profits

Recently AOSmith Corporation has paid out, on average, around 52.69% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 1.88% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), AOSmith Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 1.88% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In AOSmith Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $1.04 per share.

AOSmith Corporation's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

AOSmith Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 17 August 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 29 October 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have AOSmith Corporation's shares ever split?

AOSmith Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 6 October 2016. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your AOSmith Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for AOSmith Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted AOSmith Corporation's share price.

AOSmith Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, AOSmith Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $33.805 up to $58.05. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while AOSmith Corporation's is 1.155. This would suggest that AOSmith Corporation's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

AOSmith Corporation overview

A. O. Smith Corporation manufactures and markets residential and commercial gas and electric water heaters, boilers, tanks, and water treatment products in North America, China, Europe, and India. It operates through two segments, North America and Rest of World. The company offers water heaters for residences, restaurants, hotels and motels, office buildings, laundries, car washes, and small businesses; residential and commercial boilers for space heating applications in hospitals, schools, hotels, and other commercial buildings; and water treatment products, including on-the-go filtration bottles, point-of-use carbon and reverse osmosis products, point-of-entry water softeners, and whole-home water filtration products for residences, restaurants, hotels, and offices. It also provides food and beverage filtration products; expansion tanks, commercial solar water heating systems, swimming pool and spa heaters, and related products and parts; and heat pumps, combi-boilers, solar tank units, and air purification products. The company offers its products primarily under the A. O. Smith, State, Lochinvar, and water softener brands. It distributes its products through independent wholesale plumbing distributors, as well as through retail channels consisting of hardware and home center chains, and manufacturer representative firms; and offers Aquasana branded products directly to consumers through e-commerce, as well as other online retailers. The company was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of AOSmith Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.971% of AOSmith Corporation shares are held by insiders and 104.517% by institutions.

• How many people work for AOSmith Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 15,100 work at AOSmith Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for AOSmith Corporation?

  AOSmith Corporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is AOSmith Corporation based?

  AOSmith Corporation's address is: 11270 West Park Place, Milwaukee, WI, United States, 53224-9508

• What is AOSmith Corporation's ISIN number?

  AOSmith Corporation's international securities identification number is: US8318652091

• What is AOSmith Corporation's CUSIP number?

  AOSmith Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 831865100