Contrasting Ouster (NASDAQ:OUST) and Alps Electric (OTCMKTS:APELY)

Ouster (NASDAQ:OUST) and Alps Electric (OTCMKTS:APELY) are both mid-cap technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ouster and Alps Electric”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ouster	$169.38 million	16.23	-$60.38 million	($0.86)	-44.33
Alps Electric	$6.77 billion	0.45	$177.41 million	$1.74	16.87

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

Volatility and Risk

Ouster has a beta of 3.25, suggesting that its stock price is 225% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alps Electric has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Ouster and Alps Electric, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ouster	1	2	6	0	2.56
Alps Electric	0	1	0	0	2.00

Ouster currently has a consensus target price of $54.67, indicating a potential upside of 43.41%. Given Ouster’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Ouster is more favorable than Alps Electric.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

31.5% of Ouster shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of Alps Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.7% of Ouster shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.4% of Alps Electric shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Ouster and Alps Electric’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ouster	-26.02%	-17.49%	-12.97%
Alps Electric	2.64%	7.24%	4.09%

Summary

Alps Electric beats Ouster on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ouster

Ouster, Inc. provides lidar sensors for the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries in Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its products include high-resolution scanning and solid-state digital lidar sensors, analog lidar sensors, and software solutions. The company offers Ouster Sensor, a scanning sensor; and Digital Flash, a solid-state flash sensor. It also provides surround-view lidar sensors, which include Ouster Gemini, a perception platform for smart infrastructure deployments; and Blue City, a Gemini-powered solution for traffic operations, planning, and safety. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Alps Electric

Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. manufactures and sells electronic components in Japan and internationally. It operates through four segments: Components, Sensor Communication, Module Systems, and Logistics. The company’s products for the consumer, industrial equipment, and IoT markets include TACT switches, worker condition monitoring systems, HAPTIC reactor, actuator for cameras, remote monitoring system for logistics, analog meter monitoring system, resistive position sensor, pressure sensor, air environment sensor module, three-axis geomagnetic sensor, humidity sensor, and pc board mount current sensor. Its products for the automotive market comprises TACT and detector switches, Encoder, aspherical glass lens with metal holder, HAPTIC reactor, trimagic converter, current sensor, magnetic sensor, millimeter-wave sensor, GNSS module, 5G NR module, power window switch, electric shifter, sound system, cabin controller, smart door trim, electric shifter, integrated display, premium sound speakers, and customized car products. The company also provides systems development, office, and financing and leasing services, as well as transportation, storage, and forwarding services. The company was formerly known as Alps Electric Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Alps Alpine Co., Ltd. in January 2019. The company was incorporated in 1948 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.