Comparing Orion Energy Systems (NASDAQ:OESX) and YASKAWA Electric (OTCMKTS:YASKF)

YASKAWA Electric (OTCMKTS:YASKF) and Orion Energy Systems (NASDAQ:OESX) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares YASKAWA Electric and Orion Energy Systems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
YASKAWA Electric	N/A	N/A	N/A
Orion Energy Systems	0.04%	11.66%	3.40%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for YASKAWA Electric and Orion Energy Systems, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
YASKAWA Electric	0	0	0	0	0.00
Orion Energy Systems	1	0	1	1	2.67

Orion Energy Systems has a consensus price target of $30.00, suggesting a potential upside of 59.83%. Given Orion Energy Systems’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Orion Energy Systems is more favorable than YASKAWA Electric.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares YASKAWA Electric and Orion Energy Systems”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
YASKAWA Electric	N/A	N/A	N/A	$85.05	0.38
Orion Energy Systems	$86.31 million	0.89	-$3.16 million	($0.05)	-375.40

YASKAWA Electric has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Orion Energy Systems. Orion Energy Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than YASKAWA Electric, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

26.8% of YASKAWA Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.6% of Orion Energy Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of Orion Energy Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Orion Energy Systems beats YASKAWA Electric on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About YASKAWA Electric

YASKAWA Electric Corporation engages in motion control, robotics, system engineering, and other businesses worldwide. It manufactures and sells various AC drives, including general purpose AC drives, specific purpose AC drives, AC Drive for systems, regenerative energy saving units, and PM motors for use in household appliances, such as air conditioners and refrigerators; social infrastructures comprising elevators, escalators, trains, cranes, fans, and pumps; and factories that manufacture printing machinery, textile machinery, rubber machinery, and other materials. The company also offers rotary servo motors, direct drive servo motors, linear motors/linear sliders, machine controllers, positioning sensor encoders, and servo amplifiers for use in industrial robots, semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, machine tools, flat panel display manufacturing equipment, and metal working machines; and arc and spot welding, handling/assembling, collaborative, biomedical, palletizing, press handling, sealing/cutting/laser machining, deburring, painting, glass substrates transfer, and semiconductor wafer transfer robots for use in semiconductor wafer conveyance, arc welding, spot welding, handling, assembly, and palletizing applications. In addition, it provides industrial system electrical products, such as medium-voltage AC drives, system use AC drives, and system controllers for use in iron and steel systems, water and wastewater treatment, crane, and paper-making/film/port cargo handling/fiber/printing applications. Further, the company offers equipment for energy saving and creation comprising PV inverters, systems for large wind turbines, control equipment for small-scale power generation, and motor drive systems for use in photovoltaic power generation, large-scale wind power generation, small-scale power generation, and electric vehicles. The company was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Kitakyushu, Japan.

About Orion Energy Systems

Orion Energy Systems, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, researches, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, sells, installs, and implements energy management systems for commercial office and retail, area lighting, industrial applications, and government in North America and Germany. It operates in three segments: Lighting, Maintenance, and Electric Vehicle (EV). The company offers light emitting diode (LED) lighting products; construction and engineering services for commercial lighting and energy management system; lighting and electrical system maintenance, repair, and replacement services; and EV charging station and installation solutions. It also provides LED high bay fixtures and LED troffer retrofits; smart lighting controls, a wireless Internet of Things enabled control solution that provides lighting control options and data intelligence capabilities for building managers; and various LED fixtures for lighting and energy management needs comprising fixtures for agribusinesses, parking lots, roadways, retail, mezzanine, outdoor applications, and private label resale. In addition, the company offers lighting-related energy management services, such as site assessment, site field verification, utility incentive and government subsidy management, engineering design, project management, facility design commissioning, and recycling. It serves customers directly and through independent sales agencies and distributors, national account end-users, federal and state government facilities, regional account end-users, electrical distributors, electrical contractors, and energy service companies. Orion Energy Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.