Contrasting Asia Pacific Wire & Cable (NASDAQ:APWC) and Polar Power (NASDAQ:POLA)

Polar Power (NASDAQ:POLA) and Asia Pacific Wire & Cable (NASDAQ:APWC) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Polar Power has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Asia Pacific Wire & Cable has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

26.1% of Polar Power shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.0% of Asia Pacific Wire & Cable shares are held by institutional investors. 19.0% of Polar Power shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Asia Pacific Wire & Cable shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Polar Power and Asia Pacific Wire & Cable’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Polar Power	-207.92%	-610.87%	-86.48%
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable	1.28%	2.16%	1.35%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Polar Power and Asia Pacific Wire & Cable, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Polar Power	1	0	0	0	1.00
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable	1	0	0	0	1.00

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Polar Power and Asia Pacific Wire & Cable”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Polar Power	$6.30 million	0.78	-$9.13 million	($3.52)	-0.32
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable	$489.68 million	0.06	$3.67 million	$0.28	4.70

Asia Pacific Wire & Cable has higher revenue and earnings than Polar Power. Polar Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Asia Pacific Wire & Cable, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Asia Pacific Wire & Cable beats Polar Power on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Polar Power

Polar Power, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells direct current (DC) power generators, renewable energy, and cooling systems in the United States and internationally. The company offers DC base power systems, DC hybrid power systems, DC solar hybrid power systems, and mobile power systems. Its DC power systems are available in diesel, natural gas, LPG/propane, and renewable fuel formats. It serves customers in the telecommunications, military, commercial, industrial, and marine markets. In addition, the company sells its products through a direct sales force, and independent service providers and dealers. The company was formerly known as Polar Products, Inc. and changed its name to Polar Power, Inc. in October 1991. Polar Power, Inc. was incorporated in 1979 and is based in Gardena, California.

About Asia Pacific Wire & Cable

Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corp. Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the business of owning operating companies in the power cable, telecommunication cable, enameled wire, and electronic cable industry. It operates through the following segments: North Asia, Thailand, and Rest of the World. The company was founded on September 19, 1996 and is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan.