Daktronics (DAKT) Competitors

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) and Daktronics (NASDAQ:DAKT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, community ranking, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Is MLAB or DAKT more profitable?

Daktronics has a net margin of 3.62% compared to Mesa Laboratories' net margin of -104.92%. Mesa Laboratories' return on equity of 30.23% beat Daktronics' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mesa Laboratories	-104.92%	30.23%	10.43%
Daktronics	3.62%	19.61%	8.96%

Which has more risk & volatility, MLAB or DAKT?

Mesa Laboratories has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Daktronics has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MLAB or DAKT?

90.6% of Mesa Laboratories shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.7% of Daktronics shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.4% of Mesa Laboratories shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Daktronics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MLAB or DAKT?

Daktronics received 13 more outperform votes than Mesa Laboratories when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.13% of users gave Daktronics an outperform vote while only 63.90% of users gave Mesa Laboratories an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mesa Laboratories	Outperform Votes 223 63.90%	Underperform Votes 126 36.10%
Daktronics	Outperform Votes 236 64.13%	Underperform Votes 132 35.87%

Do analysts recommend MLAB or DAKT?

Mesa Laboratories presently has a consensus price target of $140.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.84%. Daktronics has a consensus price target of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 101.08%. Given Daktronics' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Daktronics is more favorable than Mesa Laboratories.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mesa Laboratories	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Daktronics	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.50

Is MLAB or DAKT a better dividend stock?

Mesa Laboratories pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Daktronics pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Mesa Laboratories pays out -1.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Daktronics pays out -100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Daktronics is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, MLAB or DAKT?

Daktronics has higher revenue and earnings than Mesa Laboratories. Daktronics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mesa Laboratories, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mesa Laboratories	$237.75M	2.65	-$254.25M	-$46.26	-2.50
Daktronics	$799.81M	0.85	$34.62M	-$0.20	-64.65

Does the media favor MLAB or DAKT?

In the previous week, Daktronics had 2 more articles in the media than Mesa Laboratories. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Daktronics and 2 mentions for Mesa Laboratories. Mesa Laboratories' average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Daktronics' score of 0.23 indicating that Mesa Laboratories is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Mesa Laboratories	Positive
Daktronics	Neutral

Summary

Daktronics beats Mesa Laboratories on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.