Star Group (NYSE:SGU – Get Free Report) and Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFA – Get Free Report) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
40.4% of Star Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.0% of Bel Fuse shares are held by institutional investors. 20.4% of Star Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Bel Fuse shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Risk and Volatility
Star Group has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bel Fuse has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Star Group | 4.16% | 23.03% | 7.61% |
| Bel Fuse | 9.11% | 21.78% | 9.42% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings for Star Group and Bel Fuse, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Star Group | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Bel Fuse | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.00 |
Bel Fuse has a consensus target price of $250.00, suggesting a potential upside of 29.16%. Given Bel Fuse’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Bel Fuse is more favorable than Star Group.
Dividends
Star Group pays an annual dividend of $0.74 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.9%. Bel Fuse pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Star Group pays out 46.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bel Fuse pays out 5.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Star Group has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and Bel Fuse has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Star Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Star Group and Bel Fuse”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Star Group | $1.78 billion | 0.23 | $73.50 million | $1.58 | 7.96 |
| Bel Fuse | $675.46 million | 3.63 | $61.54 million | $4.65 | 41.62 |
Star Group has higher revenue and earnings than Bel Fuse. Star Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bel Fuse, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Bel Fuse beats Star Group on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Star Group
Star Group, L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides home heating oil and propane products and services to residential and commercial customers in the United States. It offers gasoline and diesel fuel; and installs, maintain, and repairs heating and air conditioning equipment. As of September 30, 2023, the company served approximately 402,200 full service residential and commercial home heating oil and propane customers and 52,400 customers on a delivery only basis. It also sells gasoline and diesel fuel to approximately 26,600 customers. The company was formerly known as Star Gas Partners, L.P. and changed its name to Star Group, L.P. in October 2017. Star Group, L.P. was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Stamford, Connecticut.
About Bel Fuse
Bel Fuse Inc. designs, manufactures, markets, and sells products that power, protect, and connect electronic circuits. The company's products are used in the networking, telecommunications, computing, general industrial, high-speed data transmission, military, commercial aerospace, transportation, and e-Mobility industries. It provides power solutions and protection products, including front-end power supplies, board-mount power products, industrial and transportation power products, external power products, and circuit protection products. The company also offers connectivity solutions, such as expanded beam fiber optic connectors, cable assemblies, and active optical devices; copper-based connectors/cable assemblies; radio frequency connectors, cable assemblies, microwave devices, and low loss cables; and ethernet, I/O, and industrial and power connectivity products. In addition, it provides magnetic solutions comprising integrated connector modules, power transformers, SMD power inductors and SMPS transformers, and ethernet discrete components. The company sells its products through direct strategic account managers, regional sales managers working with independent sales representative organizations, and authorized distributors in the United States, the People's Republic of China, Macao, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Germany, India, Switzerland, and internationally. Bel Fuse Inc. was incorporated in 1949 and is headquartered in West Orange, New Jersey.
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