Clearfield (CLFD) versus Its Peers Financial Survey

Clearfield (NASDAQ:CLFD) is one of 110 publicly-traded companies in the “Communications Equipment” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Clearfield to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Clearfield has a beta of 2.06, indicating that its share price is 106% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clearfield’s competitors have a beta of 1.17, indicating that their average share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Clearfield and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Clearfield	$150.13 million	-$8.05 million	-59.90
Clearfield Competitors	$2.69 billion	$292.54 million	4.33

Clearfield’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Clearfield. Clearfield is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Clearfield and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Clearfield	1	1	5	0	2.57
Clearfield Competitors	1074	4031	7099	382	2.54

Clearfield currently has a consensus target price of $41.75, indicating a potential upside of 36.66%. As a group, “Communications Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 46.65%. Given Clearfield’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Clearfield has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.7% of Clearfield shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.4% of shares of all “Communications Equipment” companies are owned by institutional investors. 17.8% of Clearfield shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.4% of shares of all “Communications Equipment” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Clearfield and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Clearfield	-4.71%	1.61%	1.45%
Clearfield Competitors	1.19%	-4.83%	3.12%

Summary

Clearfield competitors beat Clearfield on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

Clearfield Company Profile

Clearfield, Inc. manufactures and sells various fiber connectivity products in the United States and internationally. The company offers FieldSmart, a series of panels, cabinets, wall boxes, and other enclosures; WaveSmart, an optical components integrated for signal coupling, splitting, termination, multiplexing, demultiplexing, and attenuation for integration within its fiber management platform; and active cabinet products. It also provides CraftSmart FiberFirst pedestals, an access terminal that offers a cable management and mounting bracket kit to support the deployment of access terminals; YOURx, an access terminal that provides flexibility with cable mid-span and internal splicing options; and FieldShield, a fiber pathway and protection method for reducing the cost of broadband deployment. In addition, the company offers fiber assemblies; fiber optic and copper cables, microducts, microduct accessories, and tools; and installation and connection accessories for fiber optic networks. It serves community broadband customers, multiple system operators, large regional service providers, and wireline/wireless national telco carriers. The company was formerly known as APA Enterprises, Inc. and changed its name to Clearfield, Inc. in January 2008. Clearfield, Inc. was incorpoarted in 1979 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.