Financial Analysis: Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) vs. ClearSign Technologies (NASDAQ:CLIR)

ClearSign Technologies (NASDAQ:CLIR) and Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for ClearSign Technologies and Hillenbrand, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ClearSign Technologies	0	0	1	0	3.00
Hillenbrand	0	2	0	1	2.67

ClearSign Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $2.00, indicating a potential upside of 148.11%. Hillenbrand has a consensus price target of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.37%. Given ClearSign Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe ClearSign Technologies is more favorable than Hillenbrand.

Profitability

This table compares ClearSign Technologies and Hillenbrand’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ClearSign Technologies	-203.65%	-47.61%	-39.34%
Hillenbrand	-0.63%	13.53%	3.82%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares ClearSign Technologies and Hillenbrand”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ClearSign Technologies	$3.60 million	11.74	-$5.30 million	($0.11)	-7.33
Hillenbrand	$3.18 billion	0.57	-$211.00 million	($0.25)	-103.75

ClearSign Technologies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Hillenbrand. Hillenbrand is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ClearSign Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

24.0% of ClearSign Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of Hillenbrand shares are held by institutional investors. 5.0% of ClearSign Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Hillenbrand shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

ClearSign Technologies has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hillenbrand has a beta of 1.47, meaning that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ClearSign Technologies beats Hillenbrand on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ClearSign Technologies

ClearSign Technologies Corporation designs and develops products and technologies to enhance emission and operational performance, energy efficiency, emission reduction, safety, and overall cost-effectiveness of industrial and commercial systems in the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Hong Kong. The company's technologies include ClearSign core burner technology consists of an industrial burner body and a downstream porous ceramic or metal flame stabilizing structure; ClearSign core process burner technology that provides a direct burner replacement for traditional refinery process heaters; ClearSign core boiler burner technology; ClearSign core flaring burners that can be used individually, or in combination, to provide a flare product with extremely low nitrogen oxide emissions; and ClearSign eye flame sensor, an electrical flame sensor for industrial applications. It serves energy, institutional, commercial and industrial boiler, chemical, and petrochemical industries. The company was formerly known as ClearSign Combustion Corporation and changed its name ClearSign Technologies Corporation in November 2019. ClearSign Technologies Corporation was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

About Hillenbrand

Hillenbrand, Inc. operates as an industrial company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Advanced Process Solutions and Molding Technology Solutions. The Advanced Process Solutions segment designs, engineers, manufactures, markets, and services process and material handling equipment and systems comprising compounding, extrusion, and material handling equipment, equipment system design services, as well as offers mixing technology, ingredient automation, and portion process; and provides screening and separating equipment for various industries, including plastics, food and pharmaceuticals, chemicals, fertilizers, minerals, energy, wastewater treatment, forest products, and other general industrials. The Molding Technology Solutions segment offers injection molding and extrusion equipment; hot runner systems; process control systems; mold bases and components; maintenance and repair services; and aftermarket parts and service for various industries, including automotive, consumer goods, medical, packaging, construction, and electronics. The company was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Batesville, Indiana.