Critical Survey: Daikin Industries (OTCMKTS:DKILY) vs. ESS Tech (NYSE:GWH)

Daikin Industries (OTCMKTS:DKILY) and ESS Tech (NYSE:GWH) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Daikin Industries and ESS Tech, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Daikin Industries	0	0	0	0	0.00
ESS Tech	1	3	1	0	2.00

ESS Tech has a consensus target price of $2.83, indicating a potential upside of 58.73%. Given ESS Tech’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ESS Tech is more favorable than Daikin Industries.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

46.8% of ESS Tech shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of ESS Tech shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Daikin Industries and ESS Tech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Daikin Industries	5.80%	9.16%	5.12%
ESS Tech	-1,045.28%	-592.34%	-125.15%

Risk & Volatility

Daikin Industries has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ESS Tech has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Daikin Industries and ESS Tech”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Daikin Industries	$31.21 billion	1.17	$1.75 billion	$0.62	20.15
ESS Tech	$6.30 million	5.56	-$86.22 million	($5.10)	-0.35

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

About Daikin Industries

Daikin Industries,Ltd. manufactures, distributes, and sells air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment, and chemical products in Japan, the Americas, China, Asia, Europe, Europe, and internationally. The company’s air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment products include room air-conditioning systems; air purifiers; heat-pump hot-water supply and room-heating systems; packaged air-conditioning systems; multiple air-conditioning systems for office buildings; air-conditioning systems for facilities and plants; heat reclaim ventilators; freezers; water chillers; turbo refrigerator equipment; air-handling units; air filters; industrial dust collectors; marine-type container refrigeration; and refrigerating and freezing showcases. The company’s chemical products comprising fluorocarbons, fluoroplastics, fluoroelastomers, fluoropaints, fluoro coating agents, semiconductor-etching products, water and oil repellent agents, pharmaceuticals and intermediates, and dry air suppliers. It also provides oil hydraulics products, including oil hydraulic pumps and valves, cooling equipment and systems, inverter-controlled pump motors, hydrostatic transmissions, and centralized lubrication units and systems; and defense products consisting of warheads, warhead parts for guided missiles, and home-use oxygen therapy equipment. In addition, the company offers after sales services. Daikin Industries,Ltd. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Osaka, Japan.

About ESS Tech

ESS Tech, Inc., an energy storage company, designs and produces iron flow batteries for commercial and utility-scale energy storage applications worldwide. It offers energy storage products, which include Energy Warehouse, a behind-the-meter solution; and Energy Center, a front-of-the-meter solution. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon.