Critical Contrast: CAE (NYSE:CAE) & Park Aerospace (NYSE:PKE)

CAE (NYSE:CAE) and Park Aerospace (NYSE:PKE) are both aerospace companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.4% of CAE shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.8% of Park Aerospace shares are held by institutional investors. 18.3% of CAE shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Park Aerospace shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares CAE and Park Aerospace’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CAE	6.36%	7.45%	3.51%
Park Aerospace	16.70%	10.75%	9.77%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for CAE and Park Aerospace, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CAE	1	4	5	0	2.40
Park Aerospace	0	0	4	0	3.00

CAE presently has a consensus price target of $31.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.02%. Park Aerospace has a consensus price target of $42.50, suggesting a potential upside of 26.73%. Given Park Aerospace’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Park Aerospace is more favorable than CAE.

Volatility & Risk

CAE has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Park Aerospace has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

CAE pays an annual dividend of $0.33 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Park Aerospace pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. CAE pays out 46.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Park Aerospace pays out 79.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CAE and Park Aerospace”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CAE	$4.91 billion	1.69	$226.62 million	$0.71	36.38
Park Aerospace	$73.30 million	9.95	$11.27 million	$0.63	53.23

CAE has higher revenue and earnings than Park Aerospace. CAE is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Park Aerospace, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Park Aerospace beats CAE on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CAE

CAE Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides simulation training and critical operations support solutions in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, the Oceania, Africa, and Rest of the Americas. It operates through two segments, Civil Aviation; and Defense and Security. The Civil Aviation segment offers training solutions for flight, cabin, maintenance, and ground personnel in commercial, business, and helicopter aviation; a range of flight simulation training devices; and ab initio pilot training and crew sourcing services, as well as aircraft flight operations solutions. The Defense and Security segment operates as a training and simulation provider that delivers platform-independent solutions to enable and enhance force readiness and security for defense forces, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), government agencies, and public safety organizations. The company was formerly known as CAE Industries Ltd. and changed its name to CAE Inc. in 1993. CAE Inc. was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Canada.

About Park Aerospace

Park Aerospace Corp., an aerospace company, develops and manufactures solution and hot-melt advanced composite materials used to produce composite structures for the aerospace market in North America, Asia, and Europe. It offers advanced composite materials, including film adhesives and lightning strike protection materials that are used to produce primary and secondary structures for jet engines, large and regional transport aircrafts, military aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles, business jets, general aviation aircrafts, and rotary wing aircrafts. The company also provides specialty ablative materials for rocket motors and nozzles; and specially designed materials for radome applications. In addition, it designs and fabricates composite parts, structures and assemblies, and low volume tooling for the aerospace industry. The company was formerly known as Park Electrochemical Corp. and changed its name to Park Aerospace Corp. in July 2019. Park Aerospace Corp. was incorporated in 1954 and is based in Westbury, New York.