Contrasting Energy Focus (NASDAQ:EFOI) & Electrovaya (NASDAQ:ELVA)

Energy Focus (NASDAQ:EFOI) and Electrovaya (NASDAQ:ELVA) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Energy Focus and Electrovaya, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Energy Focus	1	0	0	0	1.00
Electrovaya	0	2	3	1	2.83

Electrovaya has a consensus target price of $17.50, suggesting a potential upside of 245.17%. Given Electrovaya’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Electrovaya is more favorable than Energy Focus.

Risk & Volatility

Energy Focus has a beta of 2.18, indicating that its stock price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Electrovaya has a beta of 1.64, indicating that its stock price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Energy Focus and Electrovaya’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Energy Focus	-23.77%	-42.44%	-25.33%
Electrovaya	6.14%	7.96%	4.54%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.7% of Energy Focus shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.5% of Electrovaya shares are owned by institutional investors. 48.9% of Energy Focus shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Energy Focus and Electrovaya”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Energy Focus	$6.50 million	2.55	-$1.03 million	($0.25)	-10.40
Electrovaya	$71.57 million	3.54	$3.36 million	$0.11	46.09

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

Summary

Electrovaya beats Energy Focus on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Energy Focus

Energy Focus, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells energy-efficient lighting systems, and controls and ultraviolet-C light disinfection products in the United States and internationally. It offers military maritime market light-emitting diode (LED) lighting products, such as Military-grade Intellitube retrofit TLED and the Invisitube ultra-low EMI TLED; and Military-grade fixtures, including LED globe lights, berth lights; high-bay fixtures and LED retrofit kits to serve the United States navy and allied foreign navies. The company also provides RedCap emergency battery backup TLEDs; EnFocus lighting platform, including dimming and color tuning; and LED retrofit solutions for linear fluorescent lamps, downlights, and retrofit kits for low-bay, high-bay and office applications; LED dock lights. It sells its products to military maritime, industrial, and commercial markets through direct sales employees, independent sales representatives, lighting agents, and distributors, as well as via e-commerce. The company was formerly known as Fiberstars, Inc. and changed its name to Energy Focus, Inc. in May 2007. Energy Focus, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Solon, Ohio.

About Electrovaya

Electrovaya Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of lithium-ion batteries, battery management systems, and battery-related products for energy storage, clean electric transportation, and other specialized applications in North America. It offers lithium-ion batteries and systems for materials handling electric vehicles, including forklifts and automated guided vehicles, as well as battery chargers to charge the batteries; electromotive power products for electric trucks, electric buses, and other transportation applications; industrial products for energy storage; and power solutions, such as competencies in building systems for third parties. The company was formerly known as Electrofuel Inc. and changed its name to Electrovaya Inc. in March 2002. Electrovaya Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada.