Contrasting Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) and WISeKey International (NASDAQ:WKEY)

WISeKey International (NASDAQ:WKEY) and Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.3% of WISeKey International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.0% of Eastern shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.5% of WISeKey International shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of Eastern shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares WISeKey International and Eastern”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WISeKey International	$11.88 million	4.00	-$13.45 million	N/A	N/A
Eastern	$272.75 million	0.53	-$8.53 million	($1.32)	-17.76

Eastern has higher revenue and earnings than WISeKey International.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for WISeKey International and Eastern, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WISeKey International	0	0	1	0	3.00
Eastern	0	0	0	0	0.00

WISeKey International currently has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential downside of 31.27%. Given WISeKey International’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe WISeKey International is more favorable than Eastern.

Risk and Volatility

WISeKey International has a beta of 1.51, indicating that its share price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eastern has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares WISeKey International and Eastern’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WISeKey International	N/A	N/A	N/A
Eastern	-3.01%	10.22%	5.25%

Summary

WISeKey International beats Eastern on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About WISeKey International

WISeKey International Holding AG, a cybersecurity company, provides integrated security solutions in Switzerland, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates in two segments, IoT and Managed Public Key Infrastructure (mPKI). It offers microcontrollers that provides identity to various connected devices; and mPKI, which include digital identity, certificate management and signing solutions, and trust services, as well as offers digital certificates; software as a service, including cloud-based certificate life-cycle-management and signing and authentication solutions; software licenses; post-contract customer support for cybersecurity applications; and infrastructure hosting and monitoring services. The company also develops, markets, hosts, and supports a range of solutions that enable secure digital identification of people, content, and objects by generating digital identities through its products and services in cybersecurity services, IoT, digital brand management, and mobile security, which enable clients to monetize their existing user bases, as well as expand its eco-system. In addition, it engages in financing, sales, and distribution activities; and sells semiconductors secure chips. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland.

About Eastern

The Eastern Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered solutions to industrial markets in the United States and internationally. The company offers turnkey returnable packaging solutions, which are used in the assembly processes of vehicles, aircraft, and durable goods, as well as in production processes of plastic packaging products, packaged consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals; designs and manufactures blow mold tools and injection blow mold tooling products, and 2-step stretch blow molds and related components for the stretch blow molding industry; and supplies blow molds and change parts to the food, beverage, healthcare, and chemical industries. It also provides rotary latches, compression latches, draw latches, hinges, camlocks, key switches, padlocks, and handles; and development and program management services for custom electromechanical and mechanical systems for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and customer applications. In addition, the company designs and manufactures proprietary vision technology for OEMs and aftermarket applications, as well as offers aftermarket components to the heavy- and medium-duty truck, motorhome, and bus markets. The Eastern Company was founded in 1858 and is based in Shelton, Connecticut.