Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI – Get Free Report) and Neonode (NASDAQ:NEON – Get Free Report) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.
Profitability
This table compares Itron and Neonode’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Itron | 11.90% | 19.26% | 8.40% |
| Neonode | 397.84% | -32.35% | -28.42% |
Volatility & Risk
Itron has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Neonode has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Itron | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 2.69 |
| Neonode | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Itron presently has a consensus price target of $131.33, indicating a potential upside of 40.39%. Given Itron’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Itron is more favorable than Neonode.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
96.2% of Itron shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.6% of Neonode shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Itron shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 21.9% of Neonode shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Itron and Neonode”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Itron | $2.37 billion | 1.73 | $301.05 million | $5.99 | 15.62 |
| Neonode | $2.06 million | 6.76 | $8.49 million | ($0.33) | -2.52 |
Itron has higher revenue and earnings than Neonode. Neonode is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Itron, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Itron beats Neonode on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Itron
Itron, Inc., a technology, solutions, and service company, provides end-to-end solutions that help manage energy, water, and smart city operations worldwide. It operates in three segments: Device Solutions, Networked Solutions, and Outcomes. The Device Solutions segment offers hardware products that are used for measurement, control, or sensing, such as standard gas, electricity, water, and communicating meters, as well as heat and allocation products. The Networked Solutions segment provides communicating devices, such as smart meters, modules, endpoints, and sensors; network infrastructure; and associated heat-end management and application software for acquiring and transporting application-specific data. This segment also offers industrial internet of things solutions. Including automated meter reading; advanced metering infrastructure for electricity, water, and gas; distributed energy resource management; smart grid and distribution automation; smart street lighting; and leak detection and applications for gas and water systems. The Outcomes segment provides value-added, enhanced software and services, artificial intelligence, and machine learning for managing, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data to enhance decision making, maximize operational profitability, resource efficiency, grid analytics, and deliver results for consumers, utilities, and smart cities. In addition, it offers implementation, project management, installation, consulting, and post-sale maintenance support services, as well as cloud and software-as-a-service; and extended or customer-specific warranties. The company offers its products and services under the Itron brand. It serves utility and smart city customers, and municipalities through its sales force, distributors, agents, partners, and meter manufacturer representatives. Itron, Inc. was incorporated in 1977 and is headquartered in Liberty Lake, Washington.
About Neonode
Neonode Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops optical sensing solutions for contactless touch, touch, and gesture sensing in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, France, Sweden, China, and internationally. It also offers software solutions for machine perception to detect and track persons and objects in video streams from cameras and other types of imagers. In addition, the company sells touch sensor modules to OEMs, original design manufacturers, and systems integrators. Further, it licenses its zForce technology to original equipment manufacturers and automotive Tier 1 suppliers, as well as provides non-recurring engineering services related to application development. It serves office equipment, automotive, industrial automation, medical, military, and avionics markets. Neonode Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.
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