CAE (NYSE:CAE) and Thales (OTCMKTS:THLLY) Critical Comparison

CAE (NYSE:CAE) and Thales (OTCMKTS:THLLY) are both aerospace companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares CAE and Thales’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CAE	6.60%	7.48%	3.26%
Thales	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

64.3% of CAE shares are held by institutional investors. 18.3% of CAE shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for CAE and Thales, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CAE	0	1	3	0	2.75
Thales	0	0	5	0	3.00

CAE presently has a consensus price target of $39.38, indicating a potential upside of 61.84%. Given CAE’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe CAE is more favorable than Thales.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CAE and Thales’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CAE	$3.11 billion	2.49	$168.47 million	$0.67	36.31
Thales	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

CAE has higher revenue and earnings than Thales.

Summary

CAE beats Thales on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CAE

CAE Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides simulation training and critical operations support solutions in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa, and Rest of Americas. It operates through three segments: Civil Aviation, Defense and Security, and Healthcare. The Civil Aviation segment provides training solutions for flight, cabin, maintenance, and ground personnel in commercial, business, and helicopter aviation; flight simulation training devices; and ab initio pilot training and crew sourcing services, as well as aircraft flight operations solutions. The Defense and Security segment offers training and mission support solutions for defense forces across multi-domain operations, OEMs, government agencies and public safety organizations. The Healthcare segment provides integrated education and training solutions, including interventional and imaging simulations, curricula, audiovisual debriefing solutions, center management platforms, and patient simulators for healthcare students and clinical professionals, hospital and university simulation centers, medical and nursing schools, paramedic organizations, defense forces, medical societies, public health agencies and OEMs. The company was formerly known as CAE Industries Ltd. and changed its name to CAE Inc. in 1993. CAE Inc. was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Canada.

About Thales

Thales S.A. provides various solutions for civilian and military customers in the defence and security, aerospace and space, digital identity and security, and transport markets worldwide. It operates through Aerospace, Defence & Security, Digital Identity & Security, and Ground Transportation Systems business segments. The company offers communications, command, and control systems; mission services and support; protection and mission/combat systems; surveillance, detection, and intelligence systems; training and simulation solutions for air, land, naval, and joint forces; and digital identity and security solutions. It also provides air traffic management solutions; flight decks and avionics equipment and functions; in-flight entertainment and connectivity systems and services; electrical systems; aerospace trading solutions; navigation solutions; support and services for avionics equipment; and connectivity solutions. In addition, the company designs, operates, and delivers satellite-based systems for telecommunications, navigation, earth observation, environmental management, exploration, and science and orbital infrastructures; signaling, communications and supervision, and fare collection management systems and related services; cybersecurity and railway digitalization systems; and main line rail, and urban and intermodal mobility solutions. Further, it provides solutions for various markets and applications, including radiology, radio frequency, microwave sources, training and simulation solutions, lasers, and microelectronics solutions for science, industry, space, defense, automotive, railways, and energy conversion platforms. The company was formerly known as Thomson-CSF and changed its name to Thales S.A. in 2000. Thales S.A. was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Courbevoie, France.