Analyzing Sono-Tek (NASDAQ:SOTK) and Impinj (NASDAQ:PI)

Sono-Tek (NASDAQ:SOTK) and Impinj (NASDAQ:PI) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

47.9% of Sono-Tek shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Sono-Tek shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.4% of Impinj shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sono-Tek and Impinj”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sono-Tek	$20.50 million	3.42	$1.27 million	$0.09	49.56
Impinj	$366.09 million	14.14	$40.84 million	$0.01	17,789.00

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Sono-Tek and Impinj, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sono-Tek	0	2	0	0	2.00
Impinj	0	1	6	0	2.86

Sono-Tek currently has a consensus target price of $7.50, suggesting a potential upside of 68.16%. Impinj has a consensus target price of $167.57, suggesting a potential downside of 5.80%. Given Sono-Tek’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Sono-Tek is more favorable than Impinj.

Risk & Volatility

Sono-Tek has a beta of -0.21, meaning that its stock price is 121% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Impinj has a beta of 1.83, meaning that its stock price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sono-Tek and Impinj’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sono-Tek	6.93%	8.10%	6.07%
Impinj	0.18%	8.14%	2.64%

Summary

Impinj beats Sono-Tek on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sono-Tek

Sono-Tek Corporation designs and manufactures ultrasonic coating systems for applying on parts and components for the microelectronics/electronics, alternative energy, medical, industrial, and research and development/other markets worldwide. The company also designs and manufactures custom-engineered ultrasonic coating systems; and provides nozzles and generators for manufacturers' equipment. Its products include integrated multi-axis coating systems, integrated coating systems, fluxing systems, OEM systems, and other related systems. In addition, the company provides surface coating solutions and application consulting services. It markets and distributes its products through direct sales personnel, select independent distributors, and sales representatives. The company was incorporated in 1975 and is based in Milton, New York.

About Impinj

Impinj, Inc. operates a cloud connectivity platform in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its platform wirelessly connects items and delivers data about the connected items to business and consumer applications. The company’s platform comprises endpoint ICs, a miniature radios-on-a-chip that attaches to a host item and includes a number to identify the item. Its platform also consists of systems products that consists of reader ICs, readers, and gateways to wirelessly provide power to and communicate bidirectionally with endpoint ICs on host items, as well as to read, write, authenticate, and engage the endpoint ICs on those items; and software and algorithms that enable its partners to solve enterprise business problems, such as retail self-checkout and loss prevention. The company primarily serves retail, supply chain and logistics, automotive, aviation, banking, datacenters, food, healthcare, industrial and manufacturing, linen and uniform tracking, sports, and travel industries through original equipment and device manufacturers, tag service bureaus, systems integrators, value-added resellers, independent software vendors, and other solution partners. Impinj, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.