Comparing VirTra (NASDAQ:VTSI) and Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII)

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) and VirTra (NASDAQ:VTSI) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Huntington Ingalls Industries and VirTra, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Huntington Ingalls Industries	0	6	5	0	2.45
VirTra	1	1	1	0	2.00

Huntington Ingalls Industries presently has a consensus price target of $378.88, indicating a potential upside of 15.61%. VirTra has a consensus price target of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 58.73%. Given VirTra’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe VirTra is more favorable than Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.5% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.7% of VirTra shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of VirTra shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Huntington Ingalls Industries and VirTra’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Huntington Ingalls Industries	5.01%	12.89%	5.26%
VirTra	-13.60%	-5.53%	-3.88%

Risk and Volatility

Huntington Ingalls Industries has a beta of 0.24, meaning that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VirTra has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Huntington Ingalls Industries and VirTra”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Huntington Ingalls Industries	$12.48 billion	1.03	$605.00 million	$16.78	19.53
VirTra	$18.72 million	1.90	$260,000.00	($0.22)	-14.32

Huntington Ingalls Industries has higher revenue and earnings than VirTra. VirTra is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Huntington Ingalls Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Huntington Ingalls Industries beats VirTra on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Huntington Ingalls Industries

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. designs, builds, overhauls, and repairs military ships in the United States. It operates through three segments: Ingalls, Newport News, and Mission Technologies. The company is involved in the design and construction of non-nuclear ships comprising amphibious assault ships; expeditionary warfare ships; surface combatants; and national security cutters for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. It also provides nuclear-powered ships, such as aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as refueling and overhaul, and inactivation services of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. In addition, the company offers naval nuclear support services, including fleet services comprising design, construction, maintenance, and disposal activities for in-service the U.S. Navy nuclear ships; and maintenance services on nuclear reactor prototypes. Further, the company provides C5ISR systems and operations; application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to battlefield decisions; defensive and offensive cyberspace strategies and electronic warfare; live, virtual, and constructive solutions; unmanned, autonomous systems; and fleet sustainment; and critical nuclear operations. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Newport News, Virginia.

About VirTra

VirTra, Inc. provides use of force training and firearms training simulators for the law enforcement, military, and commercial markets worldwide. Its patented technologies, software, and scenarios provide intense training for de-escalation, judgmental use-of-force, marksmanship, and related training that mimics real-world situations. It offers V-300 simulator, a 300 degree wrap-around screen for simulation training; V-180 simulator, a 180 degree screen for smaller spaces or budgets; V-100, a single-screen based simulator system; V-100 MIL, a single-screen based simulator system; and V-ST PRO, a realistic single screen firearms shooting and skills training simulator. The company also provides Virtual Interactive Coursework Training Academy (V-VICTA), which enables law enforcement agencies to teach, train, test, and sustain departmental training requirements; and Subscription Training Equipment Partnership, a program that allows agencies to utilize its simulator products, accessories, and V-VICTA interactive coursework on a subscription basis. In addition, it offers V-Author software that allows users to create, edit, and train with content specific to agency’s objectives and environments; Simulated Recoil Kits, a range of realistic and reliable simulated recoil kits/weapons; Threat-Fire, a device that applies real-world stress on the trainees during simulation training; and TASER, an OC spray and low-light training devices that interact with its simulators for training. The company sells its simulators and related products through a direct sales force and distribution partners. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Chandler, Arizona.