Analyzing National Presto Industries (NYSE:NPK) & Hitachi (OTCMKTS:HTHIY)

National Presto Industries (NYSE:NPK) and Hitachi (OTCMKTS:HTHIY) are both multi-sector conglomerates companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Dividends

National Presto Industries pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Hitachi pays an annual dividend of $0.22 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. National Presto Industries pays out 17.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hitachi pays out 8.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares National Presto Industries and Hitachi”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
National Presto Industries	$388.23 million	1.99	$41.46 million	$5.83	18.51
Hitachi	$64.25 billion	2.17	$4.06 billion	$2.66	11.42

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

Profitability

This table compares National Presto Industries and Hitachi’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
National Presto Industries	9.23%	11.42%	9.19%
Hitachi	6.45%	10.83%	4.85%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

58.6% of National Presto Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Hitachi shares are owned by institutional investors. 28.0% of National Presto Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

National Presto Industries has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hitachi has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for National Presto Industries and Hitachi, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
National Presto Industries	0	0	1	0	3.00
Hitachi	0	1	0	0	2.00

Summary

National Presto Industries beats Hitachi on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About National Presto Industries

National Presto Industries, Inc. provides housewares and small appliance, defense, and safety products in North America. The company’s Housewares/Small Appliance segment designs, markets, and distributes housewares and small electrical appliances, including pressure cookers and canners; heat control line of skillets, griddles, woks, and multi-purpose cookers; slow cookers; deep fryers; air fryers; waffle makers; pizza ovens; slicer/shredders; electric heaters; hot air, oil, and microwave corn poppers; dehydrators; vacuum sealers; rice cookers; microwave bacon cookers; egg cookers; coffeemakers and coffeemaker accessories; electric knife sharpeners; and timers under the Presto Control Master brand. This segment sells its products directly to retailers, as well as through independent distributors. Its Defense segment manufactures and sells 40mm ammunition, precision mechanical and electro-mechanical products, medium caliber cartridge cases; and metal parts; and detonators, booster pellets, release cartridges, lead azide, and other military energetic devices and materials. This segment primarily serves the United States Department of Defense (DOD) and DOD prime contractors. The company’s Safety segment patents machine learning, digital sensors, and cloud-based technology to monitor freezers and refrigerators that detects and alerts users to potential safety issues around pharmaceuticals and food. National Presto Industries, Inc. was founded in 1905 and is based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

About Hitachi

Hitachi, Ltd. provides digital system and services, green energy and mobility, and connective industry solutions in Japan and internationally. It operates through seven segments: Digital Systems & Services, Green Energy & Mobility, Connective Industries, Automotive System, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Hitachi Metals, and Others. The company offers system integration, consulting, cloud services, storage, servers, and ATMs; finance solutions, social infrastructure information systems, government and public corporation information system, big data and AI, and IoT and data management; and IT products. It also operates power grids, nuclear and clear energy, renewable energy; provides energy management services and distributed power source solutions; semiconductors; elevators and escalators; air conditioners; industrial equipment; and railway systems. In addition, the company offers medical equipment for radiation therapy, In-vitro diagnosis, and regenerative medicines; automotive systems; home appliances; and water treatment solutions for water supply and sewage infrastructure, industrial water treatment, seawater desalination, and water recycling, as well as maintenance and repair services. Further, it hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, mining machinery, construction solutions, and mine management systems. Additionally, the company offers specialty steel, functional components and equipment, power electronic and magnetic materials, wires, and cable and related products; optical disk drives; and property management services. Hitachi, Ltd. was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.