AYI vs HON: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of November 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.

Reading it: AYI is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

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. AYI and HON 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 AYI and HON 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.

Acuity Inc. is an Atlanta-based industrial technology company with roughly 13,000 employees, renamed from Acuity Brands, Inc. on March 26, 2025 while keeping the AYI ticker. It runs two segments. Acuity Brands Lighting (ABL) is the legacy business and still the bulk of revenue: luminaires, drivers and lighting controls sold into North American commercial construction and renovation under brands including Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Gotham, Juno, Aculux, eldoLED, nLight and Sensor Switch, distributed largely through independent sales agents and electrical distributors. Acuity Intelligent Spaces (AIS) is the newer, smaller and faster-growing half: Distech Controls sells building management systems for HVAC, lighting, shades and access, Atrius is the data and cloud application layer, and QSC brings the Q-SYS full-stack audio, video and control platform. QSC was purchased for ~$1.215 billion in 2025, the largest acquisition in the company's history, and carried roughly $500 million of annual revenue at the time; with another ~$200 million paid down after fiscal year-end, the QSC acquisition borrowings are now fully repaid.

Full AYI guide

Honeywell, which now operates as Honeywell Technologies (Nasdaq: HON), describes itself as a global, pure-play automation company serving the building, industrial and process sectors through services, solutions and products, run on its Accelerator operating system and its Forge intelligence layer. It has more than 50,000 employees and decades of operating data from a global installed base. Its Building Automation business sells controls, sensors, fire and security systems for commercial buildings. Industrial Automation covers process control, sensing, warehouse automation and the productivity (barcode scanning) business, and the process-technology franchise licenses refining and petrochemical technology and supplies the equipment and services around it, such as its planned role at the Dangote refinery project in Kenya. Honeywell makes money from a mix of equipment sales, long-cycle projects, recurring service and growing software offerings.

Full HON guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• AYI drivers: Intelligent Spaces is where the growth is; QSC, Q-SYS and data center demand.
• HON drivers: Pure-play automation focus; Software and physical AI on the installed base.

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. A useful test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The core lighting segment is roughly three quarters of revenue and it was flat in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, with ABL adjusted operating margin down ~130 basis points on technology investment, so AIS growth is currently offsetting a stalled base rather than compounding on top of a growing one. For HON, as a standalone automation company, Honeywell is more exposed to construction activity, manufacturing capex and energy-sector spending than when aerospace aftermarket revenue cushioned results.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick AYI if you believe its drivers more; HON if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the AYI and HON guides.

AYI. On trailing GAAP earnings per share near ~$17.05 the stock prices at roughly ~18 times, falling to about ~13 times on forward estimates, with a price to sales ratio near ~2.0 and EV/EBITDA near ~10.8. That sits above a pure lighting manufacturer and below a building-software business, which is precisely the disagreement: the multiple is pricing a mix shift that is real but is still only about a quarter of revenue. Shares are down from an all-time closing high of ~$376.44 on June 30, 2026 to near ~$303, and management's fiscal 2027 guidance of ~$20.50 to $22.00 in adjusted EPS frames the next year.

HON. Honeywell's headline numbers are hard to read because the June 2026 aerospace spin-off and a large Q2 gain sit inside the trailing figures, which is why the trailing P/E shows near 8x. On forward estimates the stock trades around 22x 2027 EPS of about $9.82, a multiple in line with quality automation peers. The Q3 report on October 22 (consensus EPS about $2.16 on revenue of about $5.0 billion) will give the first clean standalone quarter.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): AYI shows revenue (fy2026, ended aug 31, 2026) ~$4.64B (Q4 up ~2.9% YoY), net income (fy2026) ~$531M (~11.5% net margin), ais net sales (q4 fy2026) ~$298M, up ~17%, adjusted diluted eps (q4 fy2026) ~$5.77 vs ~$5.56 est.; HON shows revenue (ttm, includes aerospace until june) ~$38.1 billion, q2 2026 revenue (continuing operations) ~$5.2 billion, 2026 revenue (analyst consensus) ~$20.2 billion, operating margin ~20%.

AYI and HON 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 AYI and HON exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.