Net 1 UEPS Technologies (NASDAQ:UEPS) and Energy Recovery (NASDAQ:ERII) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability and risk.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Net 1 UEPS Technologies and Energy Recovery's gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Net 1 UEPS Technologies | $151 million | 2.02 | $-78,360,000.00 | ($1.70) | -3.18 |
Energy Recovery | $86.94 million | 11.87 | $10.91 million | $0.18 | 100.39 |
Energy Recovery has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Net 1 UEPS Technologies. Net 1 UEPS Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Energy Recovery, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Net 1 UEPS Technologies and Energy Recovery, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Net 1 UEPS Technologies | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Energy Recovery | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.67 |
Net 1 UEPS Technologies presently has a consensus price target of $7.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.33%. Energy Recovery has a consensus price target of $15.25, indicating a potential downside of 14.52%. Given Net 1 UEPS Technologies' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Net 1 UEPS Technologies is more favorable than Energy Recovery.
Risk and Volatility
Net 1 UEPS Technologies has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Energy Recovery has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
21.8% of Net 1 UEPS Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.1% of Energy Recovery shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.3% of Net 1 UEPS Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.4% of Energy Recovery shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Net 1 UEPS Technologies and Energy Recovery's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Net 1 UEPS Technologies | -59.26% | -40.77% | -22.58% |
Energy Recovery | 20.61% | 16.23% | 12.72% |
Summary
Energy Recovery beats Net 1 UEPS Technologies on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.