American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC – Get Free Report) and Flux Power (NASDAQ:FLUX – Get Free Report) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for American Superconductor and Flux Power, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| American Superconductor | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2.80 |
| Flux Power | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
American Superconductor currently has a consensus price target of $55.00, indicating a potential upside of 87.54%. Flux Power has a consensus price target of $1.60, indicating a potential upside of 172.11%. Given Flux Power’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Flux Power is more favorable than American Superconductor.
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| American Superconductor | $320.87 million | 4.43 | $133.81 million | $3.03 | 9.68 |
| Flux Power | $42.13 million | 0.30 | -$7.45 million | ($0.38) | -1.55 |
American Superconductor has higher revenue and earnings than Flux Power. Flux Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Superconductor, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares American Superconductor and Flux Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| American Superconductor | 42.56% | 27.41% | 20.63% |
| Flux Power | -17.68% | -231.21% | -24.02% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
52.3% of American Superconductor shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 38.0% of Flux Power shares are held by institutional investors. 3.6% of American Superconductor shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of Flux Power shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
American Superconductor has a beta of 3.26, suggesting that its share price is 226% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flux Power has a beta of 1.76, suggesting that its share price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
American Superconductor beats Flux Power on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About American Superconductor
American Superconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides megawatt-scale power resiliency solutions worldwide. The company operates through Grid and Wind segments. The Grid segment offers products and services that enable electric utilities, industrial facilities, and renewable energy project developers to connect, transmit, and distribute power under the Gridtec Solutions brand. It provides transmission planning services, which identify power grid congestion, poor power quality, and other risks; grid interconnection solutions for wind farms and solar power plants, power quality systems, and transmission and distribution cable systems; D-VAR systems used for controlling power flow and voltage in the AC transmission system; actiVAR system, a fast-switching medium-voltage reactive compensation solution; armorVAR system installed for reactive compensation, power factor correction, loss reduction, utility bill savings, and mitigation of common power quality concerns related to power converter-based generation and load devices; and D-VAR volt var optimization (VVO) that serves the distribution power grid market. This segment also offers ship protection systems, which reduce a naval ship’s magnetic signature; and ON board power delivery systems, power generation systems, and propulsion systems; and transformers and rectifiers systems. The Wind segment designs wind turbine systems and licenses these designs to third parties under the Windtec Solutions brand. It also supplies power electronics and software-based control systems, engineered designs, and support services; and provides customer support services to wind turbine manufacturers. This segment’s design portfolio comprises a range of drivetrains and power ratings of 2 megawatts and higher. American Superconductor Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Ayer, Massachusetts.
About Flux Power
Flux Power Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiary Flux Power, Inc., designs, develops, manufactures, and sells lithium-ion energy storage solutions for lift trucks, airport ground support equipment, and other industrial and commercial applications in the North America. It offers battery management system (BMS) that provides cell balancing, charging, discharging, monitoring, and communication between the pack and the forklift. The company also provides 24-volt onboard chargers for its Class 3 Walkie pallet packs; and smart wall mounted chargers to interface with its BMS. It sells its products directly to small companies and end-users, as well as through original equipment manufacturers, lift equipment dealers, and battery distributors. The company is headquartered in Vista, California.
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