Reviewing Cadre (NYSE:CDRE) & NAPCO Security Technologies (NASDAQ:NSSC)

Cadre (NYSE:CDRE) and NAPCO Security Technologies (NASDAQ:NSSC) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Cadre has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NAPCO Security Technologies has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

44.0% of Cadre shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.1% of NAPCO Security Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 31.5% of Cadre shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of NAPCO Security Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Cadre pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. NAPCO Security Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Cadre pays out 40.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NAPCO Security Technologies pays out 47.1% 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. Cadre has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and NAPCO Security Technologies has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cadre and NAPCO Security Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cadre	$567.56 million	2.21	$36.13 million	$0.94	32.83
NAPCO Security Technologies	$181.62 million	7.47	$49.82 million	$1.19	31.97

NAPCO Security Technologies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cadre. NAPCO Security Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cadre, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Cadre and NAPCO Security Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cadre	6.65%	12.08%	5.60%
NAPCO Security Technologies	23.90%	25.42%	21.66%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Cadre and NAPCO Security Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cadre	1	0	1	0	2.00
NAPCO Security Technologies	0	2	5	1	2.88

Cadre presently has a consensus target price of $31.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2.09%. NAPCO Security Technologies has a consensus target price of $37.67, suggesting a potential downside of 1.01%. Given Cadre’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Cadre is more favorable than NAPCO Security Technologies.

Summary

NAPCO Security Technologies beats Cadre on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cadre

Cadre Holdings, Inc. manufactures and distributes safety that provides protection to users in hazardous or life-threatening situations in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Products and Distribution. It offers body armor product, such as concealable, corrections, and tactical armor under the Safariland and Protech Tactical brand names; survival suits, remotely operated vehicles, specialty tools, blast sensors, accessories, and vehicle blast attenuation seats for bomb safety technicians; bomb suits; duty gear, including belts and accessories; and other protective equipment comprising communications gear, forensic and investigation products, firearms cleaning solutions, and crowd control products. The company also offers third-party products, such as uniforms, optics, boots, firearms, and ammunition. It serves first responders, such as state and local law enforcement, fire and rescue, explosive ordnance disposal technicians, emergency medical technicians, fishing, and wildlife enforcement and departments of corrections, as well as federal agencies including the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Corrections, the Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratories, Waste Isolation Plant, and various foreign government agencies. Cadre Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

About NAPCO Security Technologies

Napco Security Technologies, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells electronic security systems for commercial, residential, institutional, industrial, and governmental applications in the United States and internationally. Its access control systems include various types of identification readers, control panels, PC-based computers, and electronically activated door-locking devices; intrusion and fire alarm systems, consists of various detectors, a control panel, a digital keypad and signaling equipment; and door locking devices comprise microprocessor-based electronic door locks with push button, card readers and bio-metric operation, door alarms, mechanical door locks, and simple dead bolt locks. The company’s alarm systems include automatic communicators, cellular communication devices, control panels, combination control panels/digital communicators and digital keypad systems, fire alarm control panels, and area detectors; and video surveillance systems comprise video cameras, control panels, video monitors, or PCs. It also buys and resells various identification readers, video cameras, PC-based computers, and various peripheral equipment for access control and video surveillance systems; offers school security products; and markets peripheral and related equipment manufactured by other companies. The company markets and sells its products to independent distributors, dealers, and installers of security equipment. Napco Security Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1969 and is headquartered in Amityville, New York.