Head to Head Review: Ultralife (NASDAQ:ULBI) vs. Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT)

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) and Ultralife (NASDAQ:ULBI) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Nextpower and Ultralife’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nextpower	16.36%	26.29%	15.02%
Ultralife	-3.50%	2.75%	1.66%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.4% of Nextpower shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.7% of Ultralife shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Nextpower shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 42.9% of Ultralife shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Nextpower and Ultralife, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nextpower	0	4	22	1	2.89
Ultralife	1	0	0	0	1.00

Nextpower presently has a consensus price target of $146.12, suggesting a potential upside of 74.99%. Given Nextpower’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Nextpower is more favorable than Ultralife.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nextpower and Ultralife”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nextpower	$3.56 billion	3.56	$585.88 million	$3.86	21.63
Ultralife	$187.24 million	0.54	-$5.90 million	($0.40)	-15.25

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

Risk & Volatility

Nextpower has a beta of 1.92, suggesting that its stock price is 92% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ultralife has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Nextpower beats Ultralife on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nextpower

Nextpower, formerly known as Nextracker, an energy solutions company, provides solar trackers and software solutions for utility-scale and distributed generation solar projects in the United States and internationally. The company offers tracking solutions, which includes NX Horizon, a solar tracking solution; and NX Horizon-XTR, a terrain-following tracker designed to expand the addressable market for trackers on sites with sloped, uneven, and challenging terrain. It also provides TrueCapture, a self-adjusting tracker control system, which boosts solar power plant production by optimizing the position of individual tracker row in response to site features, such as varying topography and changing weather conditions; and NX Navigator, that assists solar power plant owners and operators in monitoring, controlling, and protecting their solar projects. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Fremont, California. As of March 31, 2024 Nextracker Inc. (Nextpower) was formerly a subsidiary of Flex Ltd.

About Ultralife

Ultralife Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, installs, and maintains power, and communication and electronics systems worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Battery & Energy Products and Communications Systems. The Battery & Energy Products segment offers lithium 9-volt, cylindrical, thin lithium manganese dioxide, rechargeable, and other non-rechargeable batteries; lithium-ion cells, multi-kilowatt module lithium-ion battery systems, and uninterruptable power supplies; and rugged military and commercial battery charging systems and accessories, including smart chargers, multi-bay charging systems, and various cables. The Communications Systems segment provides communications systems and accessories to support military communications systems, such as radio frequency amplifiers, power supplies and cables, connector assemblies, amplified speakers, equipment mounts, case equipment, man-portable systems, and integrated communication systems for fixed or vehicle applications comprising vehicle adapters, vehicle installed power enhanced rifleman appliqué systems, and SATCOM systems. This segment's military communications systems and accessories are designed to enhance and extend the operation of communications equipment, such as vehicle-mounted, manpack, and handheld transceivers. The company sells its products under the Ultralife, Ultralife HiRate, Ultralife Thin Cell, Ultralife Batteries, Lithium Power, McDowell Research, AMTITM, ABLETM, ACCUTRONICS, ACCUPRO, ENTELLION, SWE Southwest Electronic Energy Group, SWE SEASAFE, Excell Battery Group, and Criterion Gauge brands through original equipment manufacturers, and industrial and defense supply distributors. In addition, it sells its 9-volt battery to the broader consumer market through national and regional retail chains and online retailers. It serves government, defense, and commercial sectors. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Newark, New York.