Analyzing Art’s-Way Manufacturing (NASDAQ:ARTW) and THK (OTCMKTS:THKLY)

THK (OTCMKTS:THKLY) and Art’s-Way Manufacturing (NASDAQ:ARTW) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

2.9% of Art’s-Way Manufacturing shares are owned by institutional investors. 51.5% of Art’s-Way Manufacturing shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for THK and Art’s-Way Manufacturing, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
THK	0	1	0	0	2.00
Art’s-Way Manufacturing	1	0	0	0	1.00

Profitability

This table compares THK and Art’s-Way Manufacturing’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
THK	N/A	N/A	N/A
Art’s-Way Manufacturing	-0.08%	-0.16%	-0.10%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares THK and Art’s-Way Manufacturing”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
THK	$1.61 billion	2.86	-$468.27 million	$0.30	64.30
Art’s-Way Manufacturing	$22.98 million	0.68	$1.03 million	($0.01)	-302.00

Art’s-Way Manufacturing has lower revenue, but higher earnings than THK. Art’s-Way Manufacturing is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than THK, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

THK has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Art’s-Way Manufacturing has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

THK beats Art’s-Way Manufacturing on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About THK

THK Co., Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of mechanical components worldwide. The company provides linear motion (LM) guides, ball screws, ball splines, LM guide actuators, cross roller rings/ double row angular contact ring, electric actuators, linear motor actuators, cam followers, roller followers, linear bushes, LM strokes, slide packs, slide rails, cross roller guides and tables, linear ball slides, LM and flat rollers, spline nuts, screw nuts, change nuts, precision linear packs, link balls, rod ends, spherical plain bearings, lubrication accessories, and seismic isolation products. Its products are used in various applications, including machine tools, general industrial machinery, precision instruments, semiconductor and LCD manufacturing equipment, industrial robots, electronic devices, and transport systems, as well as in construction, aerospace, medical and assistive, and other manufacturing industries. The company was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Art’s-Way Manufacturing

Art’s-Way Manufacturing Co., Inc. manufactures and distributes farm equipment products. It operates through the Agricultural Products, and Modular Buildings segments. The Agricultural Products segment manufactures a variety of specialized farm machinery under its own label including portable and stationary animal feed processing equipment and related attachments used to mill and mix feed grains into custom animal feed rations, a line of forage equipment consisting of forage boxes, bale processors, running gear, and dump boxes, a line of manure spreaders, sugar beet harvesting equipment, and a line of dirt work equipment. The Modular Buildings segment produces and sells modular buildings, which are custom designed to meet the specific research needs of its customers. It also provides services relating to the design, manufacturing, delivery, installation and renting of the building units that it produces. The company was founded by Arthur Luscombe in 1956 and is headquartered in Armstrong, IA.