Head-To-Head Review: Himax Technologies (NASDAQ:HIMX) and SCI Engineered Materials (OTCMKTS:SCIA)

SCI Engineered Materials (OTCMKTS:SCIA) and Himax Technologies (NASDAQ:HIMX) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

SCI Engineered Materials has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Himax Technologies has a beta of 1.83, meaning that its stock price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for SCI Engineered Materials and Himax Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SCI Engineered Materials	0	0	0	0	0.00
Himax Technologies	0	3	0	0	2.00

Himax Technologies has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential downside of 7.83%. Given Himax Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Himax Technologies is more favorable than SCI Engineered Materials.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares SCI Engineered Materials and Himax Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SCI Engineered Materials	$19.61 million	0.99	$1.75 million	$0.38	11.40
Himax Technologies	$832.17 million	1.82	$43.94 million	$0.26	33.38

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

Profitability

This table compares SCI Engineered Materials and Himax Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SCI Engineered Materials	8.91%	12.67%	9.93%
Himax Technologies	5.28%	4.92%	2.59%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

27.6% of SCI Engineered Materials shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.8% of Himax Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 19.7% of SCI Engineered Materials shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 31.5% of Himax Technologies shares are held by company 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.

Summary

Himax Technologies beats SCI Engineered Materials on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SCI Engineered Materials

SCI Engineered Materials, Inc. engages in the manufacture and supply of materials for physical vapor deposition thin film applications in the United States. It offers ceramic targets, metal sputtering targets, and backing plates for use in semiconductors, thin film solar, flat panel displays, defense, aerospace, and photonics industries. The company’s materials are used to produce nano layers of metals and oxides for advanced material systems; and in applying decorative coatings for end uses, such as sink faucets to produce various electronic, photonic, and semiconductor products. It serves domestic and multi-national corporations, universities, and research institutions. The company was formerly known as Superconductive Components, Inc. and changed its name to SCI Engineered Materials, Inc. in 2007. SCI Engineered Materials, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

About Himax Technologies

Himax Technologies, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, provides display imaging processing technologies in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Europe, and the United States. The company operates in two segments, Driver IC and Non-Driver Products. It offers display driver integrated circuits (ICs) and timing controllers that are used in televisions, PC monitors, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, automotive, ePaper devices, industrial displays, and other products. The company also provides automotive IC solutions, including traditional driver ICs; advanced in-cell touch and display driver integration; large touch and display driver integration; and local dimming timing controllers, as well as active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) solutions, including AMOLED drivers, timing controllers, and touch controller ICs. In addition, it offers application specific IC services; liquid crystal on silicon and micro-electro mechanical system products; Power ICs; complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor products; wafer level optics products; 3D sensing products; and ultralow power WiseEye smart image sensing products. The company markets its display drivers to panel manufacturers, mobile device module manufacturers, and manufacturers of end-use products. Himax Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Tainan City, Taiwan.