Critical Comparison: Canon (OTCMKTS:CAJPY) vs. Samsung Electronics (OTCMKTS:SSNLF)

Samsung Electronics (OTCMKTS:SSNLF) and Canon (OTCMKTS:CAJPY) are both large-cap technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Samsung Electronics and Canon”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Samsung Electronics	$197.69 billion	0.09	$18.45 billion	$2.68	52.24
Canon	$29.46 billion	0.88	$2.22 billion	$2.54	11.66

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

Profitability

This table compares Samsung Electronics and Canon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Samsung Electronics	9.12%	N/A	N/A
Canon	7.36%	9.41%	5.53%

Risk and Volatility

Samsung Electronics has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canon has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Samsung Electronics and Canon, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Samsung Electronics	0	2	0	1	2.67
Canon	0	1	0	0	2.00

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Samsung Electronics shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Canon shares are held by company 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.

Summary

Samsung Electronics beats Canon on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. engages in the consumer electronics, information technology and mobile communications, and device solutions businesses worldwide. The company offers smartphones, tablets, watches, and accessories; TVs, projectors, and sound devices; home appliances, including refrigerators, washing machines and dryers, vacuum cleaners, cooking appliances, dishwashers, air conditioners, and air purifiers; monitors and memory storage products; displays, and smart and LED signages; and other accessories. It also engages in venture capital investments, cloud services, network devices installation, semiconductor equipment maintenance services, digital advertising platforms, marketing, consulting, connected services, logistics, financing, and software design activities; toll processing of display panels and semiconductors; development and sale of network solutions; manufactures semiconductors and food; provision of repair services for electronic devices; and development and supply of semiconductor process defect and quality control software, as well as digital televisions, foundry, system large scale integration, connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions, and connected services. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 1969 and is based in Suwon, South Korea.

About Canon

Canon Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells office multifunction devices (MFDs), plain paper copying machines, laser and inkjet printers, cameras, diagnostic equipment, and lithography equipment. The company operates through four segments: Printing Business Unit, Imaging Business Unit, Medical Business Unit, and Industrial and Others Business Unit. The Printing Business Unit segment offers office MFDs, document solutions, laser multifunction printers, laser printers, inkjet printers, image scanners, calculators, digital continuous feed presses, digital sheet-fed presses, and large format printers. The Imaging Business Unit segment provides interchangeable-lens digital cameras, digital compact cameras, interchangeable lenses, compact photo printers, network cameras, video management and video content analytics software, digital camcorders, digital cinema cameras, broadcast equipment, and multimedia projectors. The Medical System Business Unit segment offers computed tomography systems, diagnostic ultrasound systems, diagnostic X-ray systems, magnetic resonance imaging systems, clinical chemistry analyzers, digital radiography systems, and ophthalmic equipment. The Industry and Others Business Unit segment provides semiconductor lithography equipment, flat panel display lithography equipment, vacuum thin-film deposition equipment, organic light-emitting diode display manufacturing equipment, die bonders, handy terminals, and document scanners. The company also provides maintenance services; and supplies replacement drums, parts, toners, and papers. It sells its products under the Canon brand through subsidiaries or independent distributors to dealers and retail outlets, as well as directly to end-users globally. Canon Inc. was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.