Contrasting Taoping (NASDAQ:TAOP) & BIO-key International (NASDAQ:BKYI)

Taoping (NASDAQ:TAOP) and BIO-key International (NASDAQ:BKYI) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Taoping and BIO-key International, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Taoping	1	0	0	0	1.00
BIO-key International	1	1	0	0	1.50

Volatility & Risk

Taoping has a beta of 0.33, indicating that its stock price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BIO-key International has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Taoping and BIO-key International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Taoping	N/A	N/A	N/A
BIO-key International	-50.01%	-67.31%	-40.28%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Taoping and BIO-key International”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Taoping	$30.82 million	0.28	-$10.06 million	N/A	N/A
BIO-key International	$6.09 million	0.71	-$7.16 million	($4.11)	-0.73

BIO-key International has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Taoping.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

4.0% of Taoping shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.5% of BIO-key International shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.4% of Taoping shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of BIO-key International shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

About Taoping

Taoping Inc. provides cloud-based platform, resource sharing, and big data solutions to the Chinese new media, education residential community management, and elevator Internet of Things (IoT) industries in the People's Republic of China. It operates through Cloud-Based Technology and Traditional Information Technology segments. The company offers cloud-based software as a service to automate the interactive workflows between advertising agencies and their customers, including establishing new advertising projects, submitting advertisement proposals, revising and approving advertising proposals, processing payment online, remotely uploading advertisement content, and tracking and analyzing performance data. It also provides project-based technology products and services for the public sector; and software and hardware with integrated solutions, such as information technology infrastructure, internet-enabled display technologies, and IoT platforms to customers in government, education, residential community management, media, transportation, and other private sectors, as well as related maintenance and support services. In addition, the company offers cloud-application-terminal, IoT technology based digital advertising distribution network, and media resource sharing platform in the out-of-home advertising markets. Further, it operates Taoping Net, an advertising-resources trading service platform, which connect screen owners, advertisers, and consumers; and Taoping App that enable customers to distribute and manage ads from mobile terminals. The company was formerly known as China Information Technology, Inc. and changed its name to Taoping Inc. in June 2018. Taoping Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Shenzhen, the People's Republic of China.

About BIO-key International

BIO-key International, Inc. develops and markets fingerprint identification biometric technology and software solutions, and enterprise-ready identity access management solutions for commercial, government, and education customers in the United States and internationally. The company offers BIO-key PortalGuard and PortalGuard IDaaS solutions, a customer-controlled and neutral-by-design cloud-based identity platform that allows customers to integrate with any cloud or on-premises SaaS application, as well as windows device authentication through IAM platform. Its solutions enable its customers to secure their workforces and student populations; and make their partner networks more collaborative. In addition, it provides BIO-key VST and WEB-key products; and Civil and Large-Scale ID Infrastructure solutions that develops finger-based biometric technology. Further, it offers finger scanners for enterprise and consumer markets under SideSwipe, EcoID, and SidePass brand names. The company was formerly known as SAC Technologies and changed its name to BIO-key International, Inc. in 2002. BIO-key International, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Wall, New Jersey.