Financial Contrast: FTC Solar (NASDAQ:FTCI) versus Ultralife (NASDAQ:ULBI)

Ultralife (NASDAQ:ULBI) and FTC Solar (NASDAQ:FTCI) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ultralife and FTC Solar, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ultralife	1	0	0	0	1.00
FTC Solar	1	1	4	0	2.50

FTC Solar has a consensus target price of $8.90, suggesting a potential upside of 313.95%. Given FTC Solar’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe FTC Solar is more favorable than Ultralife.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

30.7% of Ultralife shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.4% of FTC Solar shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.9% of Ultralife shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 21.0% of FTC Solar shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ultralife and FTC Solar”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ultralife	$191.16 million	0.57	-$5.90 million	($0.40)	-16.27
FTC Solar	$99.69 million	0.36	-$79.58 million	($6.25)	-0.34

Ultralife has higher revenue and earnings than FTC Solar. Ultralife is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FTC Solar, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Ultralife has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FTC Solar has a beta of 1.76, meaning that its stock price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ultralife and FTC Solar’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ultralife	-3.50%	2.75%	1.66%
FTC Solar	-51.02%	N/A	-37.99%

Summary

Ultralife beats FTC Solar on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ultralife

Ultralife Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, installs, and maintains power, and communication and electronics systems worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Battery & Energy Products and Communications Systems. The Battery & Energy Products segment offers lithium 9-volt, cylindrical, thin lithium manganese dioxide, rechargeable, and other non-rechargeable batteries; lithium-ion cells, multi-kilowatt module lithium-ion battery systems, and uninterruptable power supplies; and rugged military and commercial battery charging systems and accessories, including smart chargers, multi-bay charging systems, and various cables. The Communications Systems segment provides communications systems and accessories to support military communications systems, such as radio frequency amplifiers, power supplies and cables, connector assemblies, amplified speakers, equipment mounts, case equipment, man-portable systems, and integrated communication systems for fixed or vehicle applications comprising vehicle adapters, vehicle installed power enhanced rifleman appliqué systems, and SATCOM systems. This segment's military communications systems and accessories are designed to enhance and extend the operation of communications equipment, such as vehicle-mounted, manpack, and handheld transceivers. The company sells its products under the Ultralife, Ultralife HiRate, Ultralife Thin Cell, Ultralife Batteries, Lithium Power, McDowell Research, AMTITM, ABLETM, ACCUTRONICS, ACCUPRO, ENTELLION, SWE Southwest Electronic Energy Group, SWE SEASAFE, Excell Battery Group, and Criterion Gauge brands through original equipment manufacturers, and industrial and defense supply distributors. In addition, it sells its 9-volt battery to the broader consumer market through national and regional retail chains and online retailers. It serves government, defense, and commercial sectors. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Newark, New York.

About FTC Solar

FTC Solar, Inc. engages in the provision of solar tracker systems, software, and engineering services in the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, South Africa, and Australia. The company offers a self-powered, two-panel in-portrait, and single-axis tracker solution under the Voyager brand name; and a one module-in-portrait solar tracker solution under the Pioneer brand name. Its customers include project developers and solar asset owners, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction contractors that design and build solar energy projects. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.