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

Last updated November 2026

Short answer

SBGSY is the larger of the two ($157.10B market cap): the incumbent the market prices for continued execution (18.35x forward earnings, beta 1.19). AYI is the smaller challenger ($9.95B), cheaper on forward earnings (14.25x): more room to run, but more to prove. The real question is which set of drivers you believe, and whether owning one (or both) leaves you over-concentrated.

AYI vs SBGSY: the tie-breaker metrics

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.

Metric	AYI	SBGSY	What it tells you
Market cap	$9.95B	$157.10B	Size. The larger name is the incumbent; the smaller has more room to grow and more to prove.
Forward P/E	14.25	18.35	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	19.50	27.54	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	1.24	1.19	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	61% of range	13% 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	3.32	5.47	How much you pay over book value. Very high can signal an asset-light, high-return business or a rich price.

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.

Before you buy: how AYI and SBGSY 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. AYI and SBGSY 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 SBGSY 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 Acuity (AYI) do?

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

What does Schneider Electric SE (SBGSY) do?

Schneider Electric SE sells the equipment and software that move and control electricity inside buildings, data centers, factories and utility grids. It reports two businesses. Energy Management (switchgear, circuit breakers, low and medium voltage distribution, uninterruptible power supplies, prefabricated data center modules, cooling and building controls) produced €17.6 billion of the Group's €21.2 billion of revenue in the first half of 2026, at a 22.4% adjusted EBITA margin. Industrial Automation (PLCs, drives, motion control, process systems and the AVEVA industrial software business) produced €3.6 billion at a 14.0% margin. By business model, products were 47% of 2025 revenue, systems 34% and software and services 19%. North America is the largest region at about 40% of second-quarter 2026 revenue, followed by Europe (24%), China and East Asia (18%) and South Asia and International (18%).

Full SBGSY guide

AYI vs SBGSY: 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.

AYI drivers: Intelligent Spaces is where the growth is; QSC, Q-SYS and data center demand.
SBGSY drivers: Data center power and cooling; Grid and electrification spending.

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. 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 SBGSY, the biggest risk is concentration in one buyer group: data center demand has driven most of the recent acceleration, and Schneider's results would feel any pause in hyperscaler or AI infrastructure capital spending quickly, because fast-growing systems revenue is project-based.

AYI or SBGSY: which should you pick?

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; SBGSY 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 SBGSY guides.

AYI vs SBGSY: the full fundamentals

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.

SBGSY. Revenue and profit are in euros, because Schneider reports under IFRS in Paris; the ADR price converts them through the exchange rate. At $56.96 the ADR trades at about 29 times trailing and 20 times forward earnings, cheaper than in the summer after a 13% drop in the month to October 16 that followed the PTC announcement. Third-quarter revenue of €11.46 billion beat the €11.13 billion consensus and organic growth of 16.9% beat the 13.8% expected, and the company raised its 2026 target again, so the debate has moved from demand to the price and financing of PTC. Full-year 2026 results are due in late February 2027.

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.; SBGSY shows revenue (ttm to june 2026) ~€42.0 billion, revenue (9 months to sept 2026) ~€32.7 billion (+15.0% organic), q3 2026 revenue ~€11.46 billion (+16.9% organic), operating margin (ttm) ~18.2%.

The bottom line: AYI vs SBGSY

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

Wondering how AYI or SBGSY 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 Acuity with AI

Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how AYI 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.

Does AYI fit me?

FAQ

What is the difference between AYI and SBGSY?

Acuity Inc. Schneider Electric SE sells the equipment and software that move and control electricity inside buildings, data centers, factories and utility grids. 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 AYI or SBGSY the better stock?

Neither is universally better. SBGSY is the larger incumbent; AYI is the smaller challenger and looks cheaper on forward earnings. 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, AYI or SBGSY?

On forward P/E (as of November 2026), AYI trades at 14.25x and SBGSY at 18.35x, so AYI 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 AYI and SBGSY?

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 AYI vs SBGSY?

AYI: 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. Management has pointed to elongated quoting and release activity, a weak Architectural Billings Index, and materials and memory component inflation, and its fiscal 2027 outlook assumes ABL is only flat to up low single digits. Tariffs remain a variable: Acuity recorded ~$45 million of tariff refunds in the fourth quarter following 2026 court decisions on IEEPA authority and adjusted them out of results, so the underlying cost picture is cleaner to read than headline GAAP. In building management and audio-visual, Acuity competes against Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric and Siemens, all far larger, and in lighting against Signify and Hubbell, so the higher-margin growth is not taking place in an empty field. A further acquisition in AIS would add integration risk. At roughly 18 times trailing and 13 times forward earnings, the multiple has compressed through 2026, but it still assumes the mix shift continues if the lighting recovery keeps being deferred. SBGSY: The biggest risk is concentration in one buyer group: data center demand has driven most of the recent acceleration, and Schneider's results would feel any pause in hyperscaler or AI infrastructure capital spending quickly, because fast-growing systems revenue is project-based. Input costs are a second pressure point; in the first half of 2026 raw material inflation, mainly copper and silver, took €330 million from adjusted EBITA and tariffs a net €104 million, and management has to keep raising prices to stay net price positive. Mix works against margins too, since faster systems growth diluted gross margin by 0.7 points in the half. Geopolitics matters: the Middle East was under 5% of 2025 revenue but management flagged conflict-related disruption for the second half of 2026, with possible strain on supply chains and inflation, while China residential and US residential demand remain weak. Acquisitions now carry the largest execution risk in years: the $22.6 billion PTC deal needs approvals and is not expected to close until the third quarter of 2027, it will be funded with up to €17 billion of new debt and a €5 billion to €6 billion equity raise that dilutes existing holders, and revenue synergies may come later and smaller than planned. Cognite ($3.1 billion), Shelly (about €1.2 billion) and AiDASH add to the integration load, and net debt was already €15.4 billion in June. For SBGSY holders specifically, the ADR is unsponsored and trades over the counter, so volumes and spreads can be less favorable than in Paris; the dollar price moves with EUR/USD (the company now expects a €300 million to €400 million currency hit to 2026 revenue), and dividends are paid once a year net of French withholding tax and depositary fees. Valuation could compress if growth slows toward the 7% to 10% medium-term target; the ADR fell 13.3% in the month to October 16, 2026, mostly on the PTC announcement and a wider sell-off in AI-linked stocks.

Walnut is informational, not investment advice. This page is descriptive and not a recommendation to buy or sell AYI or SBGSY; figures are approximate and dated (as of November 2026). Verify current data before investing.