Head-To-Head Comparison: Universal Electronics (NASDAQ:UEIC) versus Hoya (OTCMKTS:HOCPY)

Hoya (OTCMKTS:HOCPY) and Universal Electronics (NASDAQ:UEIC) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Hoya has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Universal Electronics has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Hoya and Universal Electronics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hoya	0	0	0	2	4.00
Universal Electronics	1	2	0	0	1.67

Universal Electronics has a consensus price target of $5.75, indicating a potential upside of 23.39%. Given Universal Electronics’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Universal Electronics is more favorable than Hoya.

Profitability

This table compares Hoya and Universal Electronics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hoya	27.08%	24.49%	19.34%
Universal Electronics	-5.54%	0.41%	0.21%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.1% of Hoya shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.3% of Universal Electronics shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.1% of Universal Electronics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hoya and Universal Electronics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hoya	$5.88 billion	8.94	$1.34 billion	$4.86	32.33
Universal Electronics	$368.29 million	0.16	-$18.60 million	($1.50)	-3.11

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

Summary

Hoya beats Universal Electronics on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hoya

HOYA Corporation, a med-tech company, provides high-tech and medical products worldwide. It operates through three segments: Life Care, Telecommunication, and Other. The company offers life care products, including eyeglass and contact lenses; medical endoscopes; intraocular lenses; laparoscopic surgical instruments; automatic endoscope cleaning equipment; and other medical related products, such as prosthetic ceramic fillers and metallic implants for orthopedics. It also operates Eyecity, a specialty retailer of contact lenses. In addition, the company provides information technology products, such as mask blanks and photomasks for manufacturing semiconductor chips; glass disks for hard disk drives; and imaging products that include optical glasses/optical lenses, colored glass filters, and laser equipment/UV light resources. Further, it engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of photomasks for manufacturing flat panel displays. Additionally, the company offers ReadSpeaker, a speech synthesis software; and cloud services comprising Kinnosuke, a time and attendance management service, as well as Yonosuke, an electronic payslip service. HOYA Corporation was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Universal Electronics

Universal Electronics Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, ships, and supports control and sensor technology solutions in the United States, the People’s Republic of China, rest of Asia, Europe, Latin America, and internationally. The company offers voice-enabled automatically-programmed universal two-way radio frequency, as well as infrared remote controls to video service providers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), retailers, and private label customers; wall-mount and handheld thermostat controllers and connected accessories for smart energy management systems to OEM customers, hotels, hospitality, and system integrators; proprietary and standards-based RF sensors for residential security, safety, and home automation applications; and integrated circuits on which its software and universal device control database is embedded to OEMs, video service providers, and private label customers. It also provides software, firmware and technology solutions that can enable devices such as Smart TVs, hybrid set-top boxes, audio systems, smart speakers, game consoles, and other consumer electronic and smart home devices to wirelessly connect and interoperate within home networks; cloud-services that support its embedded software and hardware solutions; intellectual property that the company licenses to OEMs and video service providers; embedded and cloud-enabled software for firmware update provisioning and digital rights management validation services to consumer electronics brands; and AV accessories, including universal remote controls, television wall mounts and stands, and digital television antennas. In addition, the company QuickSet, a software application that can be embedded in entertainment or smart home platform or can be delivered as a cloud-based service, through QuickSet Cloud, to enable universal device setup, interoperability, and control. Universal Electronics Inc. was incorporated in 1986 and is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.