Financial Comparison: LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) & Eltek (NASDAQ:ELTK)

Eltek (NASDAQ:ELTK) and LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Eltek has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LightPath Technologies has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Eltek and LightPath Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eltek	2.35%	2.68%	1.85%
LightPath Technologies	-36.76%	-60.07%	-16.13%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Eltek and LightPath Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eltek	0	1	0	0	2.00
LightPath Technologies	1	1	4	0	2.50

LightPath Technologies has a consensus target price of $9.13, indicating a potential upside of 19.44%. Given LightPath Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe LightPath Technologies is more favorable than Eltek.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Eltek and LightPath Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eltek	$46.53 million	1.24	$4.22 million	$0.17	50.41
LightPath Technologies	$37.20 million	9.35	-$14.87 million	($0.39)	-19.59

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

64.6% of Eltek shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.3% of LightPath Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 72.0% of Eltek shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.8% of LightPath Technologies 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.

Summary

Eltek beats LightPath Technologies on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eltek

Eltek Ltd. manufactures, markets, and sells printed circuit boards (PCBs) in Israel, Europe, North America, India, the Netherlands, and internationally. It offers a range of custom designed PCBs, including rigid, double-sided and multi-layer PCBs, and flexible circuitry boards. The company also provides high density interconnect, flex-rigid, and multi-layered boards. It primarily serves medical technology, defense and aerospace, industrial, telecom, and networking equipment industries, as well as contract electronic manufacturers. The company markets and sells its products primarily through direct sales personnel, sales representatives, and PCB trading and manufacturing companies. Eltek Ltd. was incorporated in 1970 and is headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel. Eltek Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Nistec Golan Ltd.

About LightPath Technologies

LightPath Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes optical components and assemblies. The company offers precision molded glass aspheric optics, molded and diamond-turned infrared aspheric lenses, and other optical components used to produce products that manipulate light; and infrared products, including catalog and custom infrared optics. Its products are used in defense products, medical devices, laser aided industrial tools, automotive safety applications, barcode scanners, optical data storage, hybrid fiber coax datacom, telecommunications, machine vision and sensors, and other sectors. The company sells its products directly to customers in Europe and Asia. LightPath Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.