CDW (NASDAQ:CDW) & Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB) Financial Analysis

CDW (NASDAQ:CDW) and Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares CDW and Bel Fuse’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CDW	4.60%	50.61%	7.91%
Bel Fuse	7.21%	9.75%	5.23%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CDW and Bel Fuse”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CDW	$22.42 billion	0.85	$1.07 billion	$8.32	18.31
Bel Fuse	$675.46 million	5.21	$61.54 million	$4.14	58.89

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

Risk and Volatility

CDW has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bel Fuse has a beta of 1.71, meaning that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

CDW pays an annual dividend of $2.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Bel Fuse pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. CDW pays out 30.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bel Fuse pays out 6.8% 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. CDW has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years. CDW is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.2% of CDW shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.4% of Bel Fuse shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of CDW shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Bel Fuse shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for CDW and Bel Fuse, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CDW	0	2	6	1	2.89
Bel Fuse	0	2	7	0	2.78

CDW currently has a consensus price target of $147.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.53%. Bel Fuse has a consensus price target of $324.00, indicating a potential upside of 32.90%. Given Bel Fuse’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bel Fuse is more favorable than CDW.

Summary

CDW beats Bel Fuse on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CDW

CDW Corporation provides information technology (IT) solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Corporate, Small Business, and Public. The company offers discrete hardware and software products and services, as well as integrated IT solutions, including on-premise and cloud capabilities across hybrid infrastructure, digital experience, and security. It also provides hardware products comprising notebooks/mobile devices, tablets, network communications, desktop computers, collaboration, data storage and servers, and others; and software products, such as cloud solutions, software assurance, application suites, security, virtualization, operating systems, and network management. In addition, the company offers advisory and design, software development, implementation, managed, professional, configuration, partner, and telecom services, as well as warranties; delivers and manages mission critical software, systems, and network solutions; and implementation and installation, and repair services to its customers through various third-party service providers. It serves government, education, and healthcare customers; and small, medium, and large business customers. CDW Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois.

About Bel Fuse

Bel Fuse Inc. designs, manufactures, markets, and sells products that power, protect, and connect electronic circuits. The company’s products are used in the networking, telecommunications, computing, general industrial, high-speed data transmission, military, commercial aerospace, transportation, and e-Mobility industries. It provides power solutions and protection products, including front-end power supplies, board-mount power products, industrial and transportation power products, external power products, and circuit protection products. The company also offers connectivity solutions, such as expanded beam fiber optic connectors, cable assemblies, and active optical devices; copper-based connectors/cable assemblies; radio frequency connectors, cable assemblies, microwave devices, and low loss cables; and ethernet, I/O, and industrial and power connectivity products. In addition, it provides magnetic solutions comprising integrated connector modules, power transformers, SMD power inductors and SMPS transformers, and ethernet discrete components. The company sells its products through direct strategic account managers, regional sales managers working with independent sales representative organizations, and authorized distributors in the United States, the People’s Republic of China, Macao, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Germany, India, Switzerland, and internationally. Bel Fuse Inc. was incorporated in 1949 and is headquartered in West Orange, New Jersey.