AVY vs BRC: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?
Last updated August 2026
Short answer
AVY (Avery Dennison Corporation) and BRC (Brady Corporation) share investment themes but are different businesses. The right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme.
AVY vs BRC: the tie-breaker metrics
Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.
| Metric | AVY | BRC | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward P/E | 15.11 | 14.63 | Valuation on next year's expected earnings, the same yardstick for both. Lower is cheaper for that growth; higher means the market is paying up. |
| Trailing P/E | 18.55 | 21.47 | Valuation on the last 12 months. A big drop from trailing to forward means the market expects earnings to jump, so more growth is already in the price. |
| Beta | 0.83 | 0.62 | Volatility vs the market. Above 1 swings harder than the index; below 1 is steadier. Higher beta means bigger drawdowns to hold through. |
| Price vs 52-week range | 37% of range | 80% of range | Where today's price sits between the 52-week low and high. Near the high is momentum with less margin of safety; near the low is out of favor or a discount, depending on why. |
| Price / book | 5.66 | 3.29 | How much you pay over book value. Very high can signal an asset-light, high-return business or a rich price. |
Before you buy: how AVY and BRC affect your concentration
The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. AVY and BRC share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.
This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined AVY and BRC exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.
What does Avery Dennison Corporation (AVY) do?
Avery Dennison Corporation is the world's largest maker of pressure-sensitive label and packaging materials, operating through two segments: the Materials Group (roughly three-quarters of sales), which supplies label stock, graphics, reflective and tape products used across food, beverage, personal care, logistics and industrial end markets, and the Solutions Group, which makes apparel tags, tickets, and RFID-enabled Intelligent Labels for retail and supply-chain use. It is a truly global business with heavy exposure to consumer-staples-linked volumes, which makes it defensive relative to deep cyclicals but still sensitive to retail demand and destocking cycles.
What does Brady Corporation (BRC) do?
Brady has been in business since 1914 and sells the things that tell people and machines what something is: safety and facility signage, product identification labels, wire markers, healthcare wristbands and identification badges, plus the printers, ribbons and specialty adhesive materials behind them. It runs on a geographic structure with two reportable segments, Americas & Asia (~$994 million of fiscal 2025 sales) and Europe & Australia (~$520 million). By product line, fiscal 2025 sales ran roughly ~$611 million in safety and facility identification, ~$429 million in product identification, ~$248 million in wire identification and ~$226 million across healthcare and people identification. The company employed ~6,400 people as of July 31, 2025 and spent ~$79.9 million on research and development that year, a little over ~5 percent of sales. A run of small acquisitions (Gravotech, AB&R and Microfluidic Solutions) had already pushed the product identification line up sharply before the Honeywell deal arrived.
AVY vs BRC: how do they differ?
Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.
- AVY drivers: Materials Group volume recovery; Intelligent Labels and RFID adoption.
- BRC drivers: The Honeywell carve out remakes the company; Organic growth had already reaccelerated.
Which fits which kind of investor
A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Avery Dennison is exposed to raw-material cost swings (paper, film, chemicals, adhesives) and to inflationary and tariff pressures that can compress margins if pricing lags. For BRC, the central risk is integration: PSS is a carve out from a much larger seller, it depends on a transition services agreement with Honeywell for a period after closing, and Brady has never absorbed anything close to this size.
AVY or BRC: which should you pick?
AVY vs BRC: the full fundamentals
AVY. Avery Dennison generated roughly $8.9 billion of revenue over the trailing year and posted a Q1 2026 beat with revenue near $2.3 billion (up about 7%) and adjusted EPS around $2.47. At a mid-teens-to-high-teens P/E it trades modestly above the broader packaging peer average but below higher-multiple specialty peers, reflecting its blend of steady materials cash flow and RFID growth optionality.
BRC. Brady's fiscal year ends July 31, so the most recent reported period is the third quarter ended April 30, 2026, and full year fiscal 2026 results are due in early September 2026. That report matters more than usual because it should carry the first guidance including PSS, which closed on August 3, 2026 and therefore lands in fiscal 2027. Until then the trailing multiple near ~21 times and the forward multiple near ~15 times describe two different companies.
Headline figures (approximate, July 2026): AVY shows revenue (ttm) ~$8.9B, q1 2026 revenue ~$2.3B (up ~7% YoY), q1 2026 adjusted eps ~$2.47, market cap ~$13B; BRC shows revenue (ttm) ~$1.62B, diluted eps (ttm) ~$4.37, q3 fy2026 sales ~$435M, up ~13.8% (organic ~8.2%), fy2026 adjusted eps guidance ~$5.20 to ~$5.30 (excludes PSS).
The bottom line: AVY vs BRC
AVY and BRC are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined AVY and BRC exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.
Wondering how AVY or BRC fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in Avery Dennison Corporation with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how AVY fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
What is the difference between AVY and BRC?
+
Avery Dennison Corporation is the world's largest maker of pressure-sensitive label and packaging materials, operating through two segments: the Materials Group (roughly three-quarters of sales), which supplies label stock, graphics, reflective and tape products used across food, beverage, personal care, logistics and industrial end markets, and the Solutions Group, which makes apparel tags, tickets, and RFID-enabled Intelligent Labels for retail and supply-chain use. Brady has been in business since 1914 and sells the things that tell people and machines what something is: safety and facility signage, product identification labels, wire markers, healthcare wristbands and identification badges, plus the printers, ribbons and specialty adhesive materials behind them. They show up together because they share investment themes, but they are different businesses, so the better fit depends on which thesis you are expressing.
Is AVY or BRC the better stock?
+
Neither is universally better; they suit different views and risk levels. Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Compare what each does, the tie-breaker metrics above, and the risks, then decide which fits your thesis and what you already own.
Which is cheaper, AVY or BRC?
+
On forward P/E (as of August 2026), AVY trades at 15.11x and BRC at 14.63x, so BRC is the cheaper of the two on next year's expected earnings. A lower multiple is not automatically the better buy: a richer valuation can be justified by faster growth, and a lower one can reflect real risk. Weigh the multiple against how fast each business is compounding.
Should you own both AVY and BRC?
+
Because they share themes, owning both concentrates you in that theme. That can be intentional (a focused bet) or accidental (less diversification than it looks). Walnut can show your combined exposure across both, and whether adding either over-concentrates you, before you buy.
What are the risks of AVY vs BRC?
+
AVY: Avery Dennison is exposed to raw-material cost swings (paper, film, chemicals, adhesives) and to inflationary and tariff pressures that can compress margins if pricing lags. Roughly a quarter of revenue in the Solutions Group is tied to apparel and retail demand, which softened recently and can be volatile with retailer inventory cycles. Foreign-exchange moves matter given large international sales, and a broad consumer slowdown would pressure volumes across both segments. The RFID growth thesis, while real, has repeatedly ramped slower than early bullish projections, so multi-year returns have at times lagged expectations. Competition from other label-materials makers can also limit pricing power. BRC: The central risk is integration: PSS is a carve out from a much larger seller, it depends on a transition services agreement with Honeywell for a period after closing, and Brady has never absorbed anything close to this size. Financing adds a second layer, since the ~$1.6 billion of new debt includes ~$800 million of private placement senior notes at ~5.43 percent, ~5.65 percent and ~5.90 percent across 2031, 2033 and 2036 maturities, plus ~$800 million drawn under a floating rate credit agreement. PSS was also a business Honeywell chose to sell, and its ~$1.1 billion of 2025 revenue came with growth and margin characteristics outside investors cannot see the way they can see Brady's own segments. Demand is cyclical across electronics, manufacturing, construction and now logistics, and roughly a third of sales originate in Europe and Australia, so currency moves reported results both ways. One structural point: BRC is the nonvoting Class A share and all voting power sits with three holders of Class B stock, and Brady's fiscal 2025 annual report states it is not party to any material pending legal proceedings.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. This page is descriptive and not a recommendation to buy or sell AVY or BRC; figures are approximate and dated (as of August 2026). Verify current data before investing.