Reviewing Furukawa Electric (OTCMKTS:FUWAY) and Daktronics (NASDAQ:DAKT)

Daktronics (NASDAQ:DAKT) and Furukawa Electric (OTCMKTS:FUWAY) are both manufacturing companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Daktronics and Furukawa Electric’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Daktronics	0.96%	15.42%	8.15%
Furukawa Electric	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Daktronics and Furukawa Electric”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Daktronics	$756.48 million	1.55	-$10.12 million	$0.13	184.85
Furukawa Electric	N/A	N/A	N/A	$62.81	0.79

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

61.7% of Daktronics shares are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of Daktronics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Daktronics and Furukawa Electric, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Daktronics	0	1	0	1	3.00
Furukawa Electric	0	0	0	0	0.00

Summary

Daktronics beats Furukawa Electric on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Daktronics

Daktronics, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells electronic scoreboards, programmable display systems and large screen video displays for sporting, commercial, and transportation applications in the United States and internationally. It operates through Commercial, Live Events, High School Park and Recreation, Transportation, and International segments. The company also offers video display and walls; scoreboards and timing systems; LED message displays and sings; intelligent transportation systems dynamic message signs; mass transit display; sound systems; and digital billboards and street furniture, and digit and price displays. In addition, it provides indoor dynamic messaging systems and liquid crystal display signs; and software and controllers, which includes Venus, a control suite software to control the creation of messages and graphic sequences for uploading to displays. The company sells its products through direct sales and resellers. Daktronics, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Brookings, South Dakota.

About Furukawa Electric

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. manufactures and sells telecommunications, energy, automobile, electronic, and construction products worldwide. It operates through Infrastructure, Electronics & Automotive Systems, Functional Products, and Service and Developments segments. The company offers telecommunications products, such as broadband systems, routers/network equipment, and wireless products; and optical fiber cables and identifiers, optical closures/termination boxes, optical connectors/cords, fusion splicers/optical connecting tools, optical fiber line monitoring/management systems, optical active component, and metal communication cables, as well as wiring materials. It also offers energy products, including power cables, cable-related equipment/connection and terminal products, industrial machine-related equipment, fire-prevention products, electrical conductors, power distribution products, and cable conduit materials; and automobile products comprising wire harnesses, connectors, functional products and materials, and interior finishing materials. In addition, the company provides electronics parts materials, fluorescent lamps, LED reflectors, and tapes, as well as healthcare products, such as shape memory/super-elastic alloys; construction products, including water distribution piping and fluid transport piping products, heat insulators, and cable-related equipment/connection and terminal products, as well as power distribution and fire-prevention products; superconducting cables, industrial lasers, flow cytometers, and fluorescent silica nanoparticles; and maintenance/inspection solutions. Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. was founded in 1884 and is headquartered in Chiyoda, Japan.