Analyzing TDK (OTCMKTS:TTDKY) and LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH)

TDK (OTCMKTS:TTDKY) and LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

56.3% of LightPath Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of TDK shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 24.8% of LightPath Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares TDK and LightPath Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TDK	$16.64 billion	2.13	$1.30 billion	$0.69	26.46
LightPath Technologies	$52.79 million	13.15	-$14.87 million	($0.52)	-23.13

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

Risk & Volatility

TDK has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LightPath Technologies has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for TDK and LightPath Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TDK	0	0	0	1	4.00
LightPath Technologies	1	1	3	1	2.67

LightPath Technologies has a consensus target price of $13.75, suggesting a potential upside of 14.30%. Given LightPath Technologies’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe LightPath Technologies is more favorable than TDK.

Profitability

This table compares TDK and LightPath Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TDK	7.87%	10.01%	4.90%
LightPath Technologies	-43.41%	-32.64%	-10.70%

Summary

TDK beats LightPath Technologies on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TDK

TDK Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in manufacture and sale of electronic components in Japan, Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, and internationally. The company operates through Passive Components, Sensor Application Products, Magnetic Application Products, Energy Application Products, and Other segments. The Passive Components segment offers ceramic capacitors, aluminum electrolytic capacitors, film capacitors, high-frequency components, piezoelectric materials, and circuit protection components, as well as inductive devices, including ferrite cores, coils, and transformers. The Sensor Application Products segment provides temperature and pressure, magnetic, and MEMS sensors. The Magnetic Application Products segment offers hard disk drives (HDD) heads, HDD suspension assemblies, and magnets. The Energy Application Products segment provides energy devices comprising rechargeable batteries, and power supplies. The Other segment provides mechatronics production equipment and camera module micro actuators for smartphones and other products. The company also engages in engages in insurance and real estate agency businesses. The company was formerly known as Tokyo Denki Kagaku Kogyo K.K. and changed its name to TDK Corporation in 1983. TDK Corporation was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About LightPath Technologies

LightPath Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes optical components and assemblies. The company offers precision molded glass aspheric optics, molded and diamond-turned infrared aspheric lenses, and other optical components used to produce products that manipulate light; and infrared products, including catalog and custom infrared optics. Its products are used in defense products, medical devices, laser aided industrial tools, automotive safety applications, barcode scanners, optical data storage, hybrid fiber coax datacom, telecommunications, machine vision and sensors, and other sectors. The company sells its products directly to customers in Europe and Asia. LightPath Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.