Critical Analysis: Yaskawa Electric (OTCMKTS:YASKY) & American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC)

American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC) and Yaskawa Electric (OTCMKTS:YASKY) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares American Superconductor and Yaskawa Electric”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Superconductor	$222.82 million	6.14	$6.03 million	$2.93	9.81
Yaskawa Electric	$3.53 billion	1.95	$376.12 million	$1.91	27.82

Yaskawa Electric has higher revenue and earnings than American Superconductor. American Superconductor is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Yaskawa Electric, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

American Superconductor has a beta of 2.98, meaning that its stock price is 198% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Yaskawa Electric has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

52.3% of American Superconductor shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.8% of American Superconductor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares American Superconductor and Yaskawa Electric’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Superconductor	46.70%	37.97%	27.75%
Yaskawa Electric	6.86%	8.18%	4.83%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for American Superconductor and Yaskawa Electric, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Superconductor	0	2	1	0	2.33
Yaskawa Electric	0	1	2	2	3.20

Summary

American Superconductor beats Yaskawa Electric on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Superconductor

American Superconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides megawatt-scale power resiliency solutions worldwide. The company operates through Grid and Wind segments. The Grid segment offers products and services that enable electric utilities, industrial facilities, and renewable energy project developers to connect, transmit, and distribute power under the Gridtec Solutions brand. It provides transmission planning services, which identify power grid congestion, poor power quality, and other risks; grid interconnection solutions for wind farms and solar power plants, power quality systems, and transmission and distribution cable systems; D-VAR systems used for controlling power flow and voltage in the AC transmission system; actiVAR system, a fast-switching medium-voltage reactive compensation solution; armorVAR system installed for reactive compensation, power factor correction, loss reduction, utility bill savings, and mitigation of common power quality concerns related to power converter-based generation and load devices; and D-VAR volt var optimization (VVO) that serves the distribution power grid market. This segment also offers ship protection systems, which reduce a naval ship’s magnetic signature; and ON board power delivery systems, power generation systems, and propulsion systems; and transformers and rectifiers systems. The Wind segment designs wind turbine systems and licenses these designs to third parties under the Windtec Solutions brand. It also supplies power electronics and software-based control systems, engineered designs, and support services; and provides customer support services to wind turbine manufacturers. This segment’s design portfolio comprises a range of drivetrains and power ratings of 2 megawatts and higher. American Superconductor Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Ayer, Massachusetts.

About Yaskawa Electric

YASKAWA Electric Corporation engages in motion control, robotics, system engineering, and other businesses worldwide. It manufactures and sells various AC drives, including general purpose AC drives, specific purpose AC drives, AC Drive for systems, regenerative energy saving units, and PM motors for use in household appliances, such as air conditioners and refrigerators; social infrastructures comprising elevators, escalators, trains, cranes, fans, and pumps; and factories that manufacture printing machinery, textile machinery, rubber machinery, and other materials. The company also offers rotary servo motors, direct drive servo motors, linear motors/linear sliders, machine controllers, positioning sensor encoders, and servo amplifiers for use in industrial robots, semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, machine tools, flat panel display manufacturing equipment, and metal working machines; and arc and spot welding, handling/assembling, collaborative, biomedical, palletizing, press handling, sealing/cutting/laser machining, deburring, painting, glass substrates transfer, and semiconductor wafer transfer robots for use in semiconductor wafer conveyance, arc welding, spot welding, handling, assembly, and palletizing applications. In addition, it provides industrial system electrical products, such as medium-voltage AC drives, system use AC drives, and system controllers for use in iron and steel systems, water and wastewater treatment, crane, and paper-making/film/port cargo handling/fiber/printing applications. Further, the company offers equipment for energy saving and creation comprising PV inverters, systems for large wind turbines, control equipment for small-scale power generation, and motor drive systems for use in photovoltaic power generation, large-scale wind power generation, small-scale power generation, and electric vehicles. The company was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Kitakyushu, Japan.