Corning (NYSE:GLW – Get Free Report) and Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT – Get Free Report) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Corning and Harmonic”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Corning | $13.12 billion | 3.47 | $506.00 million | $0.52 | 102.10 |
| Harmonic | $689.80 million | 1.62 | $39.22 million | $0.45 | 21.95 |
Profitability
This table compares Corning and Harmonic’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Corning | 3.34% | 16.47% | 6.64% |
| Harmonic | 7.72% | 18.28% | 10.41% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
69.8% of Corning shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.4% of Harmonic shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Corning shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Harmonic shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings for Corning and Harmonic, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Corning | 0 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2.85 |
| Harmonic | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2.50 |
Corning currently has a consensus target price of $53.75, indicating a potential upside of 1.24%. Harmonic has a consensus target price of $12.33, indicating a potential upside of 24.84%. Given Harmonic’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Harmonic is more favorable than Corning.
Risk and Volatility
Corning has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harmonic has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Corning beats Harmonic on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Corning
Corning Incorporated engages in the display technologies, optical communications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's Display Technologies segment offers glass substrates for flat panel displays, including liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diodes that are used in televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, tablets, and handheld devices. Its Optical Communications segment provides optical fibers and cables; and hardware and equipment products, such as cable assemblies, fiber optic hardware and connectors, optical components and couplers, closures, network interface devices, and other accessories for the telecommunications industry, businesses, governments, and individuals. The company's Specialty Materials segment manufactures products that offer material formulations for glass, glass ceramics, crystals, precision metrology instruments, and software, as well as glass wafers and substrates, tinted sunglasses, and radiation shielding products for various markets comprising mobile consumer electronics, semiconductor equipment optics and consumables, aerospace and defense optics, radiation shielding products, sunglasses, and telecommunications components. Its Environmental Technologies segment provides ceramic substrates and filter products for emissions control in mobile, gasoline, and diesel applications. The company's Life Sciences segment offers laboratory products, including consumables, such as plastic vessels, liquid handling plastics, specialty surfaces, cell culture media, and serum, as well as general labware, and glassware and equipment under the Corning, Pyrex, Falcon, and Axygen brands. The company was formerly known as Corning Glass Works and changed its name to Corning Incorporated in April 1989. Corning Incorporated was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Corning, New York.
About Harmonic
Harmonic Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband solutions worldwide. The company operates through Broadband and Video segments. The Broadband segment sells broadband access solutions and related services, including cOS software-based broadband access solutions to broadband operators; and cOS central cloud services, a subscription service for cOS customers. The Video segment sells video processing, production, and playout solutions and services to cable operators, and satellite and telco Pay-TV service providers, as well as to broadcast and media, including streaming media companies. Its video processing appliance solutions include network management and application software, and hardware products, such as encoders, video servers, high-density stream processing systems, and edge processors. This segment also provides VOS360 SaaS platform that provides both streaming and channel origination and distribution services; and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, which enables the packaging and delivery of streaming services, including live streaming, VOD, catch-up TV, start-over TV, network-DVR and cloud-DVR services through HTTP streaming to various device along with dynamic and personal ad insertion. The company also provides technical support and professional services, such as maintenance and support, consulting, implementation, integration services, program management, technical design and planning, building and site preparation, integration and equipment installation, end-to-end system testing, and training, as well as SaaS-related support and deployment. It sells its products through its direct sales force, as well as through independent resellers and systems integrators. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
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