Critical Analysis: Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS) vs. Its Peers

Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) is one of 377 publicly-traded companies in the “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Advanced Energy Industries to related companies based on the strength of its valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Advanced Energy Industries and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Advanced Energy Industries	$1.80 billion	$148.40 million	41.43
Advanced Energy Industries Competitors	$4.14 billion	$166.60 million	0.50

Advanced Energy Industries’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Advanced Energy Industries. Advanced Energy Industries is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Advanced Energy Industries and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Advanced Energy Industries	0	3	11	0	2.79
Advanced Energy Industries Competitors	2046	7585	10390	653	2.47

Advanced Energy Industries presently has a consensus price target of $404.17, suggesting a potential upside of 82.01%. As a group, “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies have a potential upside of 35.51%. Given Advanced Energy Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Advanced Energy Industries is more favorable than its peers.

Dividends

Advanced Energy Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Advanced Energy Industries pays out 7.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.9% and pay out 81.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.7% of Advanced Energy Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.3% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Advanced Energy Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.4% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Advanced Energy Industries and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Advanced Energy Industries	10.77%	20.75%	10.39%
Advanced Energy Industries Competitors	-158.15%	-25.69%	-6.84%

Risk & Volatility

Advanced Energy Industries has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Advanced Energy Industries’ peers have a beta of -0.30, meaning that their average stock price is 130% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Advanced Energy Industries beats its peers on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

Advanced Energy Industries Company Profile

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. provides precision power conversion, measurement, and control solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's plasma power products offer solutions to enable innovation for semiconductor and thin film plasma processes, such as dry etch and deposition. It also provides high and low voltage power products used in a range of applications, such as semiconductor equipment, industrial production, medical and life science equipment, data centers computing, networking, and telecommunications. In addition, the company supplies sensing, controls, and instrumentation products for advanced measurement and calibration of power and temperature. Further, the company provides calibration, conversions, upgrades, and refurbishments and used equipment to companies, as well as repair services. Further, it offers warranty and after-market repair services. It offers its products through a direct sales force, independent sales representatives, channel partners, and distributors. Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.