Head-To-Head Contrast: Westport Fuel Systems (NASDAQ:WPRT) & Wabash National (NYSE:WNC)

Westport Fuel Systems (NASDAQ:WPRT) and Wabash National (NYSE:WNC) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

21.3% of Westport Fuel Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.0% of Wabash National shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Westport Fuel Systems shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Wabash National shares are owned 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Westport Fuel Systems and Wabash National, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Westport Fuel Systems	1	2	1	0	2.00
Wabash National	1	1	2	0	2.25

Westport Fuel Systems presently has a consensus target price of $4.38, indicating a potential upside of 128.46%. Wabash National has a consensus target price of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 34.21%. Given Westport Fuel Systems’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Westport Fuel Systems is more favorable than Wabash National.

Volatility and Risk

Westport Fuel Systems has a beta of 2.1, suggesting that its stock price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wabash National has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Westport Fuel Systems and Wabash National’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Westport Fuel Systems	-68.55%	-37.38%	-21.60%
Wabash National	-4.41%	-30.16%	-8.79%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Westport Fuel Systems and Wabash National”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Westport Fuel Systems	$23.32 million	1.56	-$61.63 million	($3.75)	-0.51
Wabash National	$1.54 billion	0.35	$211.45 million	($1.60)	-8.38

Wabash National has higher revenue and earnings than Westport Fuel Systems. Wabash National is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Westport Fuel Systems, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Wabash National beats Westport Fuel Systems on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Westport Fuel Systems

Westport Fuel Systems Inc. engages in the engineering, manufacturing, and supplying alternative fuel systems and components for use in transportation applications in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Original Equipment Manufacturers and Independent Aftermarket. It offers alternative fuel systems and components, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), renewable natural gas or biomethane, and hydrogen; and pressure regulators, injectors, electronic control units, valves and filters, complete bi-fuel, mono-fuel and dual-fuel LPG and natural gas conversion kits and high-pressure hydrogen components. The company provides Westport’s LNG high pressure direct injection 2.0 fuel system and bi-fuel products; offers turnkey solutions covering all process phases, including prototyping, development, calibration, validation, homologation, vehicle conversion and logistic services, as well as systems for diesel-powered vehicles; and supplies hydrogen fuel system components for light, medium, and heavy-duty applications. It offers its products under the AFS, BRC, Emer, GFI, HPDI, Stako, Prins, Zavoli, OMVL, TA Gas Technology, Vialle, and Valtek brands. The company was formerly known as Westport Innovations Inc. and changed its name to Westport Fuel Systems Inc. in June 2016. Westport Fuel Systems Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Wabash National

Wabash National Corporation provides connected solutions for the transportation, logistics, and distribution industries primarily in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Transportation Solutions and Parts & Services. The Transportation Solutions segment designs and manufactures transportation-related equipment and products dry and refrigerated van trailers, platform trailers, tank trailers, and truck-mounted tanks; truck bodies for dry-freight transportation; cargo and cargo XL bodies for commercial applications; refrigerated truck bodies; platform truck bodies; and used trailers, as well as laminated hardwood oak flooring products. The Parts & Services segment provides aftermarket parts and services; steel flatbed bodies, truck body mounting, shelving for package delivery, partitions, roof racks, hitches, liftgates, thermal solutions, and others; truck body repair parts; and door repair and replacement, collision repair, and basic maintenance services. It also develops and scales a digital marketplace for the transportation and logistics distribution industry; operates a parts and services distribution platform; and stainless steel storage tanks and silos, mixers, and processors for the dairy, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, chemical, craft brewing, and biotech markets; trailers as a service; and composite products, including truck bodies, overhead doors, and other industrial application products, as well as used trailers. The company offers its products under the Wabash, DuraPlate, DuraPlateHD, DuraPlate AeroSkirt, and AeroSkirt CX brands, as well as EcoNex brand. It serves its products to truckload common carriers, leasing companies, private fleet carriers, less-than-truckload common carriers, and package carriers. Wabash National Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana.