Energy Recovery (NASDAQ:ERII) and Manitex International (NASDAQ:MNTX) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.
Volatility & Risk
Energy Recovery has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Manitex International has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Energy Recovery and Manitex International's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| Energy Recovery | 20.61% | 16.23% | 12.72% |
| Manitex International | -7.08% | -0.40% | -0.15% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations for Energy Recovery and Manitex International, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| Energy Recovery | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.67 |
| Manitex International | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Energy Recovery presently has a consensus price target of $15.25, indicating a potential downside of 15.28%. Manitex International has a consensus price target of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.53%. Given Manitex International's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Manitex International is more favorable than Energy Recovery.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Energy Recovery and Manitex International's top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| Energy Recovery | $86.94 million | 11.82 | $10.91 million | $0.18 | 100.00 |
| Manitex International | $224.78 million | 0.71 | $-8,490,000.00 | $0.15 | 53.53 |
Energy Recovery has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Manitex International. Manitex International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Energy Recovery, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
40.1% of Energy Recovery shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.5% of Manitex International shares are held by institutional investors. 17.4% of Energy Recovery shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.7% of Manitex International shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Energy Recovery beats Manitex International on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
