Friedman Industries (NASDAQ:FRD) & Liquidmetal Technologies (OTCMKTS:LQMT) Head-To-Head Comparison

Friedman Industries (NASDAQ:FRD) and Liquidmetal Technologies (OTCMKTS:LQMT) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Friedman Industries and Liquidmetal Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Friedman Industries	$444.60 million	0.34	$6.09 million	$1.20	17.61
Liquidmetal Technologies	$860,000.00	145.59	-$1.51 million	N/A	N/A

Friedman Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Liquidmetal Technologies.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Friedman Industries and Liquidmetal Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Friedman Industries	0	1	0	0	2.00
Liquidmetal Technologies	0	0	0	0	0.00

Volatility and Risk

Friedman Industries has a beta of 1.49, indicating that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liquidmetal Technologies has a beta of 0.22, indicating that its share price is 78% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Friedman Industries and Liquidmetal Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Friedman Industries	1.84%	6.50%	3.95%
Liquidmetal Technologies	-199.61%	-7.00%	-6.70%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

33.3% of Friedman Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of Liquidmetal Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 5.5% of Friedman Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 45.4% of Liquidmetal Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Friedman Industries beats Liquidmetal Technologies on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Friedman Industries

Friedman Industries, Incorporated engages in steel processing, pipe manufacturing and processing, and the steel and pipe distribution businesses the United States. It operates in two segments, Coil and Tubular. The Coil segment is involved in the conversion of steel coils into flat sheet and plate steel cut to customer specifications and reselling steel coils. This segment also processes customer-owned coils on a fee basis. The company sells coil products and processing services to approximately 200 customers located primarily in the midwestern, southwestern and southeastern regions of the United States. Its principal customers for these products and services are steel distributors and customers manufacturing steel products, such as steel buildings, railroad cars, barges, tanks and containers, trailers, component parts and other fabricated steel products. The Tubular segment manufactures line and oil country pipes, as well as pipes for structural applications. This segment sells its tubular products principally to steel and pipe distributors through its own sales force. The company was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Longview, Texas.

About Liquidmetal Technologies

Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc., a materials technology company, designs, develops, and sells custom products and parts from bulk amorphous alloys to various industries in the United States and internationally. The company provides bulk amorphous alloy custom products and parts for applications, which include non-consumer electronic devices, medical products, automotive components, and sports and leisure goods. It offers tooling and prototype parts, such as demonstration parts and test samples for customers with products in development; and engages in product licensing activities. In addition, the company partners with third-party manufacturers and licensees to develop and commercialize liquid metal alloy products. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Lake Forest, California.