Head to Head Contrast: Corning (NYSE:GLW) vs. Knowles (NYSE:KN)

Corning (NYSE:GLW) and Knowles (NYSE:KN) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

69.8% of Corning shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.4% of Knowles shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Corning shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Knowles shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Corning and Knowles”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Corning	$13.12 billion	5.39	$506.00 million	$0.94	87.83
Knowles	$553.50 million	3.73	-$237.80 million	$0.29	82.84

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

Volatility and Risk

Corning has a beta of 1.14, suggesting that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Knowles has a beta of 1.53, suggesting that its share price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Corning and Knowles’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Corning	5.77%	17.27%	6.96%
Knowles	4.40%	8.22%	5.57%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Corning and Knowles, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Corning	0	2	11	1	2.93
Knowles	0	1	2	0	2.67

Corning currently has a consensus price target of $70.08, indicating a potential downside of 15.11%. Knowles has a consensus price target of $21.00, indicating a potential downside of 12.58%. Given Knowles’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Knowles is more favorable than Corning.

Summary

Corning beats Knowles on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Corning

Corning Incorporated engages in the display technologies, optical communications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's Display Technologies segment offers glass substrates for flat panel displays, including liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diodes that are used in televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, tablets, and handheld devices. Its Optical Communications segment provides optical fibers and cables; and hardware and equipment products, such as cable assemblies, fiber optic hardware and connectors, optical components and couplers, closures, network interface devices, and other accessories for the telecommunications industry, businesses, governments, and individuals. The company's Specialty Materials segment manufactures products that offer material formulations for glass, glass ceramics, crystals, precision metrology instruments, and software, as well as glass wafers and substrates, tinted sunglasses, and radiation shielding products for various markets comprising mobile consumer electronics, semiconductor equipment optics and consumables, aerospace and defense optics, radiation shielding products, sunglasses, and telecommunications components. Its Environmental Technologies segment provides ceramic substrates and filter products for emissions control in mobile, gasoline, and diesel applications. The company's Life Sciences segment offers laboratory products, including consumables, such as plastic vessels, liquid handling plastics, specialty surfaces, cell culture media, and serum, as well as general labware, and glassware and equipment under the Corning, Pyrex, Falcon, and Axygen brands. The company was formerly known as Corning Glass Works and changed its name to Corning Incorporated in April 1989. Corning Incorporated was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Corning, New York.

About Knowles

Knowles Corporation offers capacitors, radio frequency (RF) filtering products, balanced armature speakers, micro-acoustic microphones, and audio solutions in Asia, the United States, Europe, other Americas, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Precision Devices (PD); Medtech & Specialty Audio (MSA); and Consumer MEMS Microphones (CMM). The PD segment designs and delivers film, electrolytic, and mica capacitor products for use in power supplies and medical implants; electromagnetic interference filters; and RF filtering solutions for use in satellite communications and radar systems for defense applications. The MSA segment designs and manufactures balanced armature speakers and microphones for the hearing health, audio, and True Wireless Stereo (TWS) markets. The CMM segment designs and manufactures micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) microphones and audio solutions used in applications that serve the ear, mobile, TWS, Internet of Things, computing, and smartphones markets. The company serves the defense, medtech, electric vehicle, industrial, communications, and consumer electronics markets through original equipment manufacturers, their contract manufacturers, suppliers, sales representatives, and distributors. Knowles Corporation was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois.