Financial Analysis: Canon (CAJPY) versus Its Peers

Canon (OTCMKTS:CAJPY) is one of 82 publicly-traded companies in the “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Canon to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

51.2% of shares of all “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Canon shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.5% of shares of all “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Canon and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Canon	$29.46 billion	$2.22 billion	11.28
Canon Competitors	$23.51 billion	$3.24 billion	11.95

Canon has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its rivals. Canon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Volatility & Risk

Canon has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canon’s rivals have a beta of 1.56, meaning that their average share price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Canon pays an annual dividend of $0.79 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Canon pays out 31.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.5% and pay out 42.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Canon and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Canon	7.36%	9.33%	5.51%
Canon Competitors	-639.13%	-14.37%	2.86%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Canon and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Canon	0	1	0	0	2.00
Canon Competitors	1047	4265	7594	357	2.55

As a group, “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” companies have a potential upside of 24.15%. Given Canon’s rivals stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Canon has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Summary

Canon rivals beat Canon on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Canon

Canon Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells office multifunction devices (MFDs), plain paper copying machines, laser and inkjet printers, cameras, diagnostic equipment, and lithography equipment. The company operates through four segments: Printing Business Unit, Imaging Business Unit, Medical Business Unit, and Industrial and Others Business Unit. The Printing Business Unit segment offers office MFDs, document solutions, laser multifunction printers, laser printers, inkjet printers, image scanners, calculators, digital continuous feed presses, digital sheet-fed presses, and large format printers. The Imaging Business Unit segment provides interchangeable-lens digital cameras, digital compact cameras, interchangeable lenses, compact photo printers, network cameras, video management and video content analytics software, digital camcorders, digital cinema cameras, broadcast equipment, and multimedia projectors. The Medical System Business Unit segment offers computed tomography systems, diagnostic ultrasound systems, diagnostic X-ray systems, magnetic resonance imaging systems, clinical chemistry analyzers, digital radiography systems, and ophthalmic equipment. The Industry and Others Business Unit segment provides semiconductor lithography equipment, flat panel display lithography equipment, vacuum thin-film deposition equipment, organic light-emitting diode display manufacturing equipment, die bonders, handy terminals, and document scanners. The company also provides maintenance services; and supplies replacement drums, parts, toners, and papers. It sells its products under the Canon brand through subsidiaries or independent distributors to dealers and retail outlets, as well as directly to end-users globally. Canon Inc. was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.