Reviewing ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) & Nauticus Robotics (NASDAQ:KITT)

ESAB (NYSE:ESAB – Get Rating) and Nauticus Robotics (NASDAQ:KITT – Get Rating) are both industrial products companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.2% of ESAB shares are held by institutional investors. 7.0% of ESAB shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 47.9% of Nauticus Robotics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for ESAB and Nauticus Robotics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESAB	0	1	4	0	2.80
Nauticus Robotics	0	1	2	0	2.67

ESAB presently has a consensus target price of $70.80, suggesting a potential upside of 18.69%. Nauticus Robotics has a consensus target price of $5.75, suggesting a potential upside of 224.86%. Given Nauticus Robotics’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Nauticus Robotics is more favorable than ESAB.

Profitability

This table compares ESAB and Nauticus Robotics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESAB	7.61%	18.50%	6.71%
Nauticus Robotics	N/A	N/A	-22.66%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ESAB and Nauticus Robotics’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ESAB	$2.59 billion	1.39	$223.75 million	$3.29	18.13
Nauticus Robotics	$11.44 million	7.32	-$28.26 million	N/A	N/A

ESAB has higher revenue and earnings than Nauticus Robotics.

Summary

ESAB beats Nauticus Robotics on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ESAB

(Get Rating)

ESAB Corporation engages in the formulation, development, manufacture, and supply of consumable products and equipment for use in cutting, joining, and automated welding, as well as gas control equipment. Its comprehensive range of welding consumables includes electrodes, cored and solid wires, and fluxes using a range of specialty and other materials; and cutting consumables comprising electrodes, nozzles, shields, and tips. The company's equipment ranges from portable welding machines to large customized automated cutting and welding systems. It also offers a range of software and digital solutions to help its customers increase their productivity, remotely monitor their welding operations, and digitize their documentation. The company sells its products under the ESAB brand to various end markets, such as general industry, construction, infrastructure, transportation, energy, renewable energy, and medical and life sciences. It offers its products through independent distributors and direct salespeople. The company operates in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. ESAB Corporation was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland.

About Nauticus Robotics

(Get Rating)

Nauticus Robotics, Inc. develops and offers ocean robotic solutions and cloud software to the ocean industry. The company offers Aquanaut, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with sensor suite, which provides capability to observe and inspect subsea assets or other subsea features; and Argonaut, a derivative product of the Aquanaut, which is used for non-industrial and government applications. It also provides Olympic Arm, an all-electric, work-class manipulator that allows perception-driven decision making for semi-autonomous tasking; ToolKITT software suite, which is a multi-layered, multi-tool, software platform that operates various ocean robotic vehicles through navigational guidance, vehicle, and manipulator control, as well as perception, planning, and execution of tasks; and Hydronaut, an optionally crewed autonomous surface vessel that supports the real-time operations of Aquanaut in long range and deep water commercial applications. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in Webster, Texas.