Energy Focus (NASDAQ:EFOI – Get Free Report) and Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG – Get Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Energy Focus and Plug Power, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Energy Focus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Plug Power | 3 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2.35 |
Plug Power has a consensus price target of $3.59, suggesting a potential upside of 92.88%. Given Plug Power’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Plug Power is more favorable than Energy Focus.
Risk and Volatility
Institutional and Insider Ownership
3.7% of Energy Focus shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.5% of Plug Power shares are owned by institutional investors. 48.9% of Energy Focus shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Plug Power shares are owned 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.
Profitability
This table compares Energy Focus and Plug Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Energy Focus | -23.77% | -42.44% | -25.33% |
| Plug Power | -220.59% | -56.01% | -21.09% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Energy Focus and Plug Power”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Energy Focus | $3.56 million | 4.92 | -$1.03 million | ($0.25) | -11.00 |
| Plug Power | $709.92 million | 3.66 | -$1.63 billion | ($1.26) | -1.48 |
Energy Focus has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Plug Power. Energy Focus is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Plug Power, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Plug Power beats Energy Focus on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Energy Focus
Energy Focus, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells energy-efficient lighting systems, and controls and ultraviolet-C light disinfection products in the United States and internationally. It offers military maritime market light-emitting diode (LED) lighting products, such as Military-grade Intellitube retrofit TLED and the Invisitube ultra-low EMI TLED; and Military-grade fixtures, including LED globe lights, berth lights; high-bay fixtures and LED retrofit kits to serve the United States navy and allied foreign navies. The company also provides RedCap emergency battery backup TLEDs; EnFocus lighting platform, including dimming and color tuning; and LED retrofit solutions for linear fluorescent lamps, downlights, and retrofit kits for low-bay, high-bay and office applications; LED dock lights. It sells its products to military maritime, industrial, and commercial markets through direct sales employees, independent sales representatives, lighting agents, and distributors, as well as via e-commerce. The company was formerly known as Fiberstars, Inc. and changed its name to Energy Focus, Inc. in May 2007. Energy Focus, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Solon, Ohio.
About Plug Power
Plug Power Inc. develops hydrogen and fuel cell product solutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers GenDrive, a hydrogen-fueled proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system that provides power to material handling electric vehicles; GenSure, a stationary fuel cell solution that offers modular PEM fuel cell power to support the backup and grid-support power requirements of the telecommunications, transportation, and utility sectors; ProGen, a fuel cell stack and engine technology used in mobility and stationary fuel cell systems, and as engines in electric delivery vans; GenFuel, a liquid hydrogen fueling delivery, generation, storage, and dispensing system; GenCare, an ongoing Internet of Things-based maintenance and on-site service program for GenDrive fuel cell systems, GenSure fuel cell systems, GenFuel hydrogen storage and dispensing products, and ProGen fuel cell engines; and GenKey, an integrated turn-key solution for transitioning to fuel cell power. It also provides electrolyzers, a hydrogen generator for clean hydrogen production; liquefaction systems that provides liquid hydrogen to customers; cryogenic equipment for the distribution of liquified hydrogen, oxygen, argon, nitrogen and other cryogenic gases, including trailers and mobile storage equipment; and liquid hydrogen, an alternative fuel to fossil-based energy. The company sells its products through a direct product sales force, original equipment manufacturers, and dealer networks. Plug Power Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Latham, New York.
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