Critical Review: Taylor Devices (NASDAQ:TAYD) and CompoSecure (NASDAQ:CMPO)

CompoSecure (NASDAQ:CMPO) and Taylor Devices (NASDAQ:TAYD) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

CompoSecure has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Taylor Devices has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

37.6% of CompoSecure shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.6% of Taylor Devices shares are owned by institutional investors. 52.1% of CompoSecure shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.7% of Taylor Devices shares are owned 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for CompoSecure and Taylor Devices, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CompoSecure	0	0	2	0	3.00
Taylor Devices	0	3	0	1	2.50

CompoSecure currently has a consensus price target of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 43.32%. Taylor Devices has a consensus price target of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.19%. Given CompoSecure’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe CompoSecure is more favorable than Taylor Devices.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CompoSecure and Taylor Devices”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CompoSecure	$160.68 million	12.08	-$53.72 million	($2.16)	-7.11
Taylor Devices	$41.65 million	4.53	$8.56 million	$2.07	28.24

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CompoSecure	-24.53%	-65.50%	26.83%
Taylor Devices	17.50%	9.64%	8.90%

Summary

CompoSecure beats Taylor Devices on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CompoSecure

CompoSecure, Inc. designs and manufactures premium metal payment cards and related products for banks, fintech companies and other card issuers. Its offerings include metal cards in a range of designs and finishes, along with services that support card production and personalization. The company also develops Arculus, a platform that combines hardware and software for digital asset security and authentication. Its products and services support customers seeking differentiated payment-card experiences as well as tools for securing digital assets.

About Taylor Devices

Taylor Devices, Inc. is a designer and manufacturer of shock absorption, vibration control and energy-dissipation products. Its solutions are used to protect structures, equipment and personnel from the effects of impact, vibration, seismic activity and other dynamic forces. The company’s products include fluidic shock absorbers, seismic dampers, structural dampers, custom energy-absorption systems and vibration-isolation equipment. These products serve a range of applications in aerospace, defense, industrial machinery, infrastructure and building construction.