Forward Industries (FWDI) and Its Peers Financial Contrast

Forward Industries (NASDAQ:FWDI) is one of 341 publicly-traded companies in the “Financial Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Forward Industries to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability and risk.

Dividends

Forward Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Forward Industries pays out 351.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Financial Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.3% and pay out -72.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Forward Industries and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Forward Industries	1	1	2	0	2.25
Forward Industries Competitors	1989	6951	11723	446	2.50

Forward Industries presently has a consensus price target of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 140.73%. As a group, “Financial Services” companies have a potential downside of 5.90%. Given Forward Industries’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Forward Industries is more favorable than its competitors.

Risk and Volatility

Forward Industries has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forward Industries’ competitors have a beta of 2.50, suggesting that their average share price is 150% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

43.0% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 15.9% of Forward Industries shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 21.8% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Forward Industries and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Forward Industries	-2,073.82%	-18.05%	-17.03%
Forward Industries Competitors	-338.89%	-39.94%	-5.83%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Forward Industries and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Forward Industries	$53.12 million	-$166.97 million	46.73
Forward Industries Competitors	$24.43 billion	$1.09 billion	10.17

Forward Industries’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Forward Industries. Forward Industries is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Forward Industries competitors beat Forward Industries on 11 of the 15 factors compared.

About Forward Industries

Forward Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, markets, and distributes carry and protective solutions primarily for handheld electronic devices. The company operates in three segments: OEM Distribution, Retail Distribution, and Design. The OEM Distribution segment sources and distributes carrying cases and other accessories for medical monitoring and diagnostic kits; and various portable electronic and non-electronic products, such as sporting and recreational products, bar code scanners, GPS devices, tablets, and firearms. The Retail Distribution segment sources and sells smart-enabled furniture and a range of other products through agreements with various retailers, including in stores and online retailer websites. The Design segment provides hardware and software product design and engineering services. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers in the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Forward Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.