Head-To-Head Comparison: Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) and Nikon (OTCMKTS:NINOY)

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) and Nikon (OTCMKTS:NINOY) are both mid-cap technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Advanced Energy Industries has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nikon has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Advanced Energy Industries and Nikon, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Advanced Energy Industries	0	3	10	0	2.77
Nikon	0	1	0	0	2.00

Advanced Energy Industries presently has a consensus price target of $391.64, suggesting a potential upside of 65.48%. Given Advanced Energy Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Advanced Energy Industries is more favorable than Nikon.

Dividends

Advanced Energy Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Nikon pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Advanced Energy Industries pays out 5.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nikon pays out -6.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Nikon is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Advanced Energy Industries and Nikon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Advanced Energy Industries	12.72%	24.95%	11.83%
Nikon	-11.86%	-13.88%	-7.47%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.7% of Advanced Energy Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of Nikon shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Advanced Energy Industries shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Advanced Energy Industries and Nikon”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Advanced Energy Industries	$1.80 billion	5.33	$148.40 million	$6.95	34.05
Nikon	$4.50 billion	0.75	-$568.18 million	($1.61)	-6.40

Advanced Energy Industries has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Nikon. Nikon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Advanced Energy Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Advanced Energy Industries beats Nikon on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Advanced Energy Industries

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. designs and manufactures precision power-conversion, measurement and control technologies. Founded in 1981, the company supplies solutions used in applications where reliable, precisely controlled power is important. Its products include power supplies, high-voltage and radio-frequency power systems, and measurement and control technologies. These products support semiconductor manufacturing and other markets, including industrial, data center, medical and telecommunications applications.

About Nikon

Nikon Corporation is a Japan-based manufacturer of optical and imaging products. Founded in 1917 as Nippon Kogaku K.K., the company has expanded from its roots in precision optics into a range of technology and imaging businesses. Nikon’s products and services include digital cameras and lenses, semiconductor lithography systems, microscopes and other healthcare-related equipment, and industrial measurement and inspection systems. It also develops optical components and technologies used in manufacturing and other applications.