Contrasting YASKAWA Electric (OTCMKTS:YASKF) and Kimball Electronics (NASDAQ:KE)

YASKAWA Electric (OTCMKTS:YASKF) and Kimball Electronics (NASDAQ:KE) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for YASKAWA Electric and Kimball Electronics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
YASKAWA Electric	0	0	0	0	N/A
Kimball Electronics	0	2	3	0	2.60

Kimball Electronics has a consensus price target of $23.25, indicating a potential upside of 31.50%. Given Kimball Electronics’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Kimball Electronics is more favorable than YASKAWA Electric.

Profitability

This table compares YASKAWA Electric and Kimball Electronics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
YASKAWA Electric	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kimball Electronics	1.20%	6.65%	2.86%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares YASKAWA Electric and Kimball Electronics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
YASKAWA Electric	N/A	N/A	N/A	$85.05	0.34
Kimball Electronics	$1.71 billion	0.26	$20.51 million	$1.28	13.81

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

26.8% of YASKAWA Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.0% of Kimball Electronics shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Kimball Electronics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Kimball Electronics beats YASKAWA Electric on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About YASKAWA Electric

YASKAWA Electric Corporation engages in motion control, robotics, system engineering, and other businesses worldwide. It manufactures and sells various AC drives, including general purpose AC drives, specific purpose AC drives, AC Drive for systems, regenerative energy saving units, and PM motors for use in household appliances, such as air conditioners and refrigerators; social infrastructures comprising elevators, escalators, trains, cranes, fans, and pumps; and factories that manufacture printing machinery, textile machinery, rubber machinery, and other materials. The company also offers rotary servo motors, direct drive servo motors, linear motors/linear sliders, machine controllers, positioning sensor encoders, and servo amplifiers for use in industrial robots, semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, machine tools, flat panel display manufacturing equipment, and metal working machines; and arc and spot welding, handling/assembling, collaborative, biomedical, palletizing, press handling, sealing/cutting/laser machining, deburring, painting, glass substrates transfer, and semiconductor wafer transfer robots for use in semiconductor wafer conveyance, arc welding, spot welding, handling, assembly, and palletizing applications. In addition, it provides industrial system electrical products, such as medium-voltage AC drives, system use AC drives, and system controllers for use in iron and steel systems, water and wastewater treatment, crane, and paper-making/film/port cargo handling/fiber/printing applications. Further, the company offers equipment for energy saving and creation comprising PV inverters, systems for large wind turbines, control equipment for small-scale power generation, and motor drive systems for use in photovoltaic power generation, large-scale wind power generation, small-scale power generation, and electric vehicles. The company was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Kitakyushu, Japan.

About Kimball Electronics

Kimball Electronics, Inc. engages in the provision of electronics manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain support services to customers in the automotive, medical, and industrial end markets. The Company also offers contract manufacturing services, including engineering and supply chain support for the production of electronic assemblies and other products, including non-electronic components, medical devices, medical disposables, and precision molded plastics, as well as automation, test, and inspection equipment primarily used in automotive, medical, and industrial applications. In addition, it is also involved in the production and testing of printed circuit board assemblies, as well as clean room assembly, cold chain, and product sterilization management activities. Further, the company offers design services and support, supply chain services and support, rapid prototyping and new product introduction support, product design and process validation and qualification, industrialization and automation of manufacturing processes, reliability testing, aftermarket services, drug delivery devices and solutions with and without electronics, and product life cycle management services, as well as and assembly of medical, automotive, and industrial products. It operates in the United States, China, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Thailand, India, Japan, Vietnam, and internationally. Kimball Electronics, Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Jasper, Indiana.