Head-To-Head Analysis: Graham (NYSE:GHM) & Taylor Devices (NASDAQ:TAYD)

Graham (NYSE:GHM) and Taylor Devices (NASDAQ:TAYD) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Graham has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Taylor Devices has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Graham and Taylor Devices, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Graham	0	2	3	1	2.83
Taylor Devices	0	2	0	0	2.00

Graham presently has a consensus price target of $81.67, indicating a potential downside of 17.54%. Given Graham’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Graham is more favorable than Taylor Devices.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Graham and Taylor Devices”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Graham	$237.56 million	4.87	$12.23 million	$1.35	73.36
Taylor Devices	$46.29 million	3.53	$9.41 million	$3.30	15.38

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

Profitability

This table compares Graham and Taylor Devices’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Graham	6.28%	13.26%	6.07%
Taylor Devices	21.52%	15.77%	14.31%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

69.5% of Graham shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.6% of Taylor Devices shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Graham shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.9% of Taylor Devices shares are held by 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.

Summary

Graham beats Taylor Devices on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Graham

Graham Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures fluid, power, heat transfer, and vacuum equipment for chemical and petrochemical processing, defense, space, petroleum refining, cryogenic, energy, and other industries. It offers power plant systems, including ejectors and surface condensers; torpedo ejection, propulsion, and power systems, such as turbines, alternators, regulators, pumps, and blowers; and thermal management systems comprising pumps, blowers, and drive electronics for defense sector. The company also provides rocket propulsion systems consisting of turbopumps and fuel pumps; cooling systems, which include pumps, compressors, fans, and blowers; and life support systems that comprise fans, pumps, and blowers for space industry. In addition, it offers heat transfer and vacuum systems, including ejectors, process and surface condensers, liquid ring pumps, heat exchangers, and nozzles; power generation systems, such as turbines, generators, compressors, and pumps; and thermal management systems comprising pumps, blowers, and electronics for energy sector. Further, the company offers heat transfer and vacuum systems consisting of ejectors, process and surface condensers, liquid ring pumps, heat exchangers, and nozzles for chemical and petrochemical processing industry. The company also services and sells spare parts for its equipment. It sells its products directly in the United States, the Middle East, Canada, Asia, South America, and internationally. Graham Corporation was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Batavia, New York.

About Taylor Devices

Taylor Devices, Inc. engages in design, development, manufacture, and marketing of shock absorption, rate control, and energy storage devices for use in machinery, equipment, and structures in the United States, Asia, and internationally. Its products include seismic dampers that are designed to mitigate the effects of earthquakes on structures; Fluidicshoks, which are compact shock absorbers primarily used in defense, aerospace, and commercial industries; and crane and industrial buffers, which are larger versions of the Fluidicshoks for industrial application on cranes and crane trolleys, truck docks, ladle and ingot cars, ore trolleys, and train car stops. The company's products also comprise self-adjusting shock absorbers that include versions of Fluidicshoks, and crane and industrial buffers, which automatically adjust to various impact conditions and are designed for high cycle application primarily in the heavy industry; liquid die springs that are used as component parts of machinery and equipment used in the manufacture of tools and dies; vibration dampers, which are primarily used by aerospace and defense industries to control the response of electronics and optical systems subjected to air, ship, or spacecraft vibration; machined springs used in the aerospace applications; and custom actuators for special aerospace and defense applications. It markets its products through a network of sales representatives and distributors. The company was incorporated in 1955 and is headquartered in North Tonawanda, New York.