Vicor (NASDAQ:VICR) & CTS (NYSE:CTS) Head to Head Comparison

Vicor (NASDAQ:VICR) and CTS (NYSE:CTS) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

47.5% of Vicor shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.9% of CTS shares are owned by institutional investors. 31.3% of Vicor shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of CTS shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Vicor and CTS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vicor	28.98%	20.21%	18.26%
CTS	12.46%	12.90%	9.13%

Volatility & Risk

Vicor has a beta of 2.36, suggesting that its stock price is 136% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CTS has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vicor and CTS”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vicor	$452.70 million	27.69	$118.56 million	$2.99	91.96
CTS	$541.32 million	3.44	$65.32 million	$2.34	27.86

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Vicor and CTS, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vicor	0	1	3	1	3.00
CTS	0	1	0	1	3.00

Vicor presently has a consensus price target of $228.33, suggesting a potential downside of 16.96%. Given Vicor’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Vicor is more favorable than CTS.

Summary

Vicor beats CTS on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vicor

Vicor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets modular power components and power systems for converting electrical power in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company offers a range of brick-format DC-DC converters; complementary components provide AC line rectification, input filtering, power factor correction, and transient protection; and input and output voltage, and output power products, as well as electrical and mechanical accessories. It also design, sells, and service custom power systems solutions. The company serves independent manufacturers of electronic devices, original equipment manufacturers, and their contract manufacturers in the aerospace and aviation, defense electronics, satellites, factory automation, instrumentation, test equipment, transportation, telecommunications and networking infrastructure and vehicles, and transportation markets. Vicor Corporation was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts.

About CTS

CTS Corporation manufactures and sells sensors, actuators, and connectivity components in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company provides encoders, rotary position sensors, slide potentiometers, industrial and commercial rotary potentiometers. It also provides non-contacting, and contacting pedals; and eBrake pedals. In addition, the company offers flow meters, hydrophones, non-destructive testing, sonar, ultrasonic imaging, piezoelectric materials, piezoelectric sense products, and bulk products. Further, it provides eMobility, chassis, current sensors, clutch, brake, position sensors, stroke sensor, seating, speed, throttle, transmission, turbo, temperature sensors, and technical related products. Additionally, the company offers DIP, rotary selector, tactile, rotary DIP, and toggle switches, as well as provides transducer related products. Furthermore, it provides EMI, RFI, and RFI products; specialty and resistors; and frequency control products. The company sells and markets its products through its sales engineers, independent manufacturer representatives, and distributors. CTS Corporation was founded in 1896 and is based in Lisle, Illinois.