Critical Survey: Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR) and Park Aerospace (NYSE:PKE)

Park Aerospace (NYSE:PKE) and Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Park Aerospace has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Archer Aviation has a beta of 3.27, indicating that its stock price is 227% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Park Aerospace and Archer Aviation, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Park Aerospace	0	1	3	0	2.75
Archer Aviation	1	2	6	0	2.56

Park Aerospace currently has a consensus target price of $42.50, indicating a potential upside of 57.82%. Archer Aviation has a consensus target price of $11.00, indicating a potential upside of 135.80%. Given Archer Aviation’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Archer Aviation is more favorable than Park Aerospace.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Park Aerospace and Archer Aviation”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Park Aerospace	$73.30 million	7.99	$11.27 million	$0.72	37.40
Archer Aviation	$300,000.00	11,973.81	-$618.20 million	($1.08)	-4.32

Park Aerospace has higher revenue and earnings than Archer Aviation. Archer Aviation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Park Aerospace, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

77.8% of Park Aerospace shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.3% of Archer Aviation shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.1% of Park Aerospace shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Archer Aviation 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.

Profitability

This table compares Park Aerospace and Archer Aviation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Park Aerospace	18.42%	11.21%	10.25%
Archer Aviation	N/A	-40.74%	-35.93%

Summary

Park Aerospace beats Archer Aviation on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Park Aerospace

Park Aerospace Corp., an aerospace company, develops and manufactures solution and hot-melt advanced composite materials used to produce composite structures for the aerospace market in North America, Asia, and Europe. It offers advanced composite materials, including film adhesives and lightning strike protection materials that are used to produce primary and secondary structures for jet engines, large and regional transport aircrafts, military aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles, business jets, general aviation aircrafts, and rotary wing aircrafts. The company also provides specialty ablative materials for rocket motors and nozzles; and specially designed materials for radome applications. In addition, it designs and fabricates composite parts, structures and assemblies, and low volume tooling for the aerospace industry. The company was formerly known as Park Electrochemical Corp. and changed its name to Park Aerospace Corp. in July 2019. Park Aerospace Corp. was incorporated in 1954 and is based in Westbury, New York.

About Archer Aviation

Archer Aviation Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in designs, develops, and operates electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for use in urban air mobility. The company was formerly known as Atlas Crest Investment Corp. and changed its name to Archer Aviation Inc. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California.