Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) vs. Senstar Technologies (NASDAQ:SNT) Critical Review

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) and Senstar Technologies (NASDAQ:SNT) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Eastern and Senstar Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern	0	1	0	0	2.00
Senstar Technologies	0	1	0	0	2.00

Volatility and Risk

Eastern has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Senstar Technologies has a beta of 2.08, meaning that its share price is 108% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Eastern and Senstar Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern	$258.12 million	0.46	-$8.53 million	$1.24	15.67
Senstar Technologies	$38.04 million	2.36	$2.64 million	$0.20	19.25

Senstar Technologies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Eastern. Eastern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Senstar Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Eastern pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Senstar Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 20.8%. Eastern pays out 35.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Senstar Technologies pays out 400.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares Eastern and Senstar Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern	-3.06%	10.44%	5.38%
Senstar Technologies	13.49%	13.44%	9.93%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.0% of Eastern shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.8% of Senstar Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of Eastern shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 24.4% of Senstar Technologies 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.

Summary

Senstar Technologies beats Eastern on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Senstar Technologies

Senstar Technologies Corporation provides physical, video, and access control security products and solutions worldwide. It offers solutions for critical sites, which leverage its portfolio of perimeter intrusion detection systems, and video management software with intelligent video analytics security solutions, as well as access control products and technologies. The company's solutions and products are optimized for perimeter, outdoor, and general security applications. Its portfolio of critical infrastructure protection and site protection technologies includes various smart barriers and fences, fence mounted sensors, virtual gates, buried and concealed detection systems, and sensors for sub-surface intrusion, such as to secure pipelines, as well as video analytics software and video management systems. Senstar Technologies Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is based in Ottawa, Canada.