Head to Head Comparison: Air T (NASDAQ:AIRT) versus VerifyMe (NASDAQ:VRME)

Air T (NASDAQ:AIRT) and VerifyMe (NASDAQ:VRME) are both small-cap industrials 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Air T and VerifyMe, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air T	1	0	0	0	1.00
VerifyMe	1	1	1	0	2.00

VerifyMe has a consensus target price of $1.50, suggesting a potential upside of 108.33%. Given VerifyMe’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe VerifyMe is more favorable than Air T.

Profitability

This table compares Air T and VerifyMe’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air T	17.17%	176.42%	17.67%
VerifyMe	-47.08%	-17.16%	-14.63%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

8.9% of Air T shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.8% of VerifyMe shares are held by institutional investors. 68.5% of Air T shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 19.7% of VerifyMe 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.

Risk & Volatility

Air T has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VerifyMe has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its stock price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Air T and VerifyMe”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air T	$327.09 million	0.26	$77.98 million	$23.59	1.37
VerifyMe	$16.40 million	0.58	-$4.91 million	($0.40)	-1.80

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

Summary

Air T beats VerifyMe on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Air T

Air T, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides overnight air cargo, ground equipment sale, and commercial jet engines and parts in the United States and internationally. The Overnight Air Cargo segment offers air express delivery services. As of March 31, 2023, this segment had 85 aircraft under the dry-lease agreements with FedEx. The Ground Equipment Sales segment manufactures, sells, and services aircraft deicers, scissor-type lifts, military and civilian decontamination units, flight-line tow tractors, glycol recovery vehicles, and other specialized equipment. This segment sells its products to passenger and cargo airlines, ground handling companies, the United States Air Force, airports, and industrial customers. The Commercial Aircraft, Engines and Parts segment offers commercial aircraft trading, leasing, and parts solutions; commercial aircraft storage, storage maintenance, and aircraft disassembly/part-out services; commercial aircraft parts sales, exchanges, procurement services, consignment programs, and overhaul and repair services; and aircraft instrumentation, avionics, and a range of electrical accessories for civilian, military transport, regional/commuter and business/commercial jet, and turboprop aircraft. This segment also provides composite aircraft structures, and repair and support services. Air T, Inc. was incorporated in 1980 and is based in Denver, North Carolina.

About VerifyMe

VerifyMe, Inc., together with its subsidiary, PeriShip Global, LLC, operates as a technology solutions provider that specializes in products to connect brands with consumers and providing brands with end-to-end logistics management for their products. The company operates through two segments, VerifyMe Solutions and PeriShip Global Solutions. The VerifyMe Solutions segment offers technology solutions to connect brands with consumers allowing brand owners to gather business intelligence while engaging directly with their consumers. Its solutions provide brand protection and supply chain functions, such as counterfeit prevention, traceability, consumer engagement solutions, and authentication for labels, packaging, and products, as well as tamper-proof labels. The PeriShip Global Solutions segment offers predictive analytics for optimizing delivery of time and temperature sensitive perishable products. This segment's products include PeriTrack customer dashboard, an integrated web portal tool gives its customers an in-depth look at their shipping activities based on real-time data. It also provides call center, pre-transit, post-delivery, and weather/traffic services. The company has a strategic partnership with INX International Ink Company. The company was formerly known as LaserLock Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to VerifyMe, Inc. in July 2015. VerifyMe, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida.