Head to Head Comparison: Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON) and Astronics (OTCMKTS:ATROB)

Astronics (OTCMKTS:ATROB) and Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON) are both aerospace companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Astronics and Axon Enterprise, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astronics	0	0	0	0	0.00
Axon Enterprise	0	3	16	0	2.84

Axon Enterprise has a consensus target price of $762.93, suggesting a potential upside of 53.76%. Given Axon Enterprise’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Axon Enterprise is more favorable than Astronics.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.1% of Axon Enterprise shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.0% of Astronics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.4% of Axon Enterprise shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Astronics has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Axon Enterprise has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Astronics and Axon Enterprise”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astronics	$862.13 million	2.90	$29.36 million	$0.77	91.06
Axon Enterprise	$2.78 billion	14.35	$124.66 million	$1.52	326.43

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

Profitability

This table compares Astronics and Axon Enterprise’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astronics	3.41%	39.95%	11.66%
Axon Enterprise	4.48%	2.82%	1.26%

Summary

Axon Enterprise beats Astronics on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Astronics

Astronics Corporation, through its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures products for the aerospace, defense, and electronics industries in the United States, rest of North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Test Systems. The Aerospace segment offers lighting and safety systems, electrical power generation systems, distribution and seat motions systems, aircraft structures, avionics products, system certification, and other products. This segment serves airframe manufacturers (OEM) that build aircraft for the commercial, military, and general aviation markets; suppliers to OEMs; and aircraft operators, such as airlines; suppliers to the aircraft operators; and branches of the U.S. Department of Defense. The Test Systems segment designs, develops, manufactures, and maintains automated test systems that support the aerospace and defense, and mass transit industries, as well as training and simulation devices for commercial and military applications. It serves OEMs and prime government contractors for electronics and military products. Astronics Corporation was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in East Aurora, New York.

About Axon Enterprise

Axon Enterprise, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells conducted energy devices (CEDs) under the TASER brand in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Software and Sensors, and TASER. The company also offers hardware and cloud-based software solutions that enable law enforcement to capture, securely store, manage, share, and analyze video and other digital evidence. Its products include axon officer safety plan; taser 10, taser7, taser X26P, taser X2, taser 7 CQ, and civilian series; cameras, such as axon body, axon flex, axon fleet, axon air, axon signal sidearm, axon signal vehicle, axon interview, and axon interview portable kit; software, including axon records, evidence, standards, commander, performance, auto-transcribe, justice, investigate, respond, and justice, my90, and redaction assistant; mobile applications, and training services, as well as hardware extended warranties; and Axon docks, cartridges, and batteries. The company sells its products through its direct sales, distribution partners, online store, and third-party resellers. Axon Enterprise, Inc. has a strategic partnership with Fusus, Inc. to expand bility to aggregate live video, data, and sensor feeds. It serves law enforcement, federal, correction, fire, EMS, campus, justice healthcare, retail, private security, and personal safety industries. The company was formerly known as TASER International, Inc. and changed its name to Axon Enterprise, Inc. in April 2017. Axon Enterprise, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.