Reviewing ClearSign Technologies (NASDAQ:CLIR) and Cummins (NYSE:CMI)

Cummins (NYSE:CMI) and ClearSign Technologies (NASDAQ:CLIR) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Cummins and ClearSign Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cummins	0	5	13	0	2.72
ClearSign Technologies	1	0	1	0	2.00

Cummins currently has a consensus price target of $736.59, indicating a potential upside of 40.26%. ClearSign Technologies has a consensus price target of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 475.54%. Given ClearSign Technologies’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ClearSign Technologies is more favorable than Cummins.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.5% of Cummins shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.0% of ClearSign Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Cummins shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of ClearSign Technologies shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares Cummins and ClearSign Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cummins	7.82%	25.29%	9.88%
ClearSign Technologies	-96.07%	-58.08%	-44.61%

Risk & Volatility

Cummins has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ClearSign Technologies has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cummins and ClearSign Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cummins	$33.67 billion	2.15	$2.84 billion	$19.57	26.83
ClearSign Technologies	$5.23 million	4.52	-$5.50 million	($0.91)	-3.82

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

Summary

Cummins beats ClearSign Technologies on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cummins

Cummins Inc. designs, manufactures, distributes, and services diesel and natural gas engines, electric and hybrid powertrains, and related components worldwide. It operates through five segments: Engine, Distribution, Components, Power Systems, and Accelera. The company offers diesel and natural gas-powered engines under the Cummins and other customer brands for the heavy and medium-duty truck, bus, recreational vehicle, light-duty automotive, construction, mining, marine, rail, oil and gas, defense, and agricultural markets; and offers parts and services, as well as remanufactured parts and engines. It provides power generation systems, horsepower engines, heavy and medium duty engines, application engineering services, custom-designed assemblies, retail and wholesale aftermarket parts, and in-shop and field-based repair services. In addition, the company offers emission solutions; turbochargers; air and fuel filters, fuel water separators, lube and hydraulic filters, coolants, fuel additives, and other filtration systems; and electronic control modules, sensors, and supporting software, as well as new, replacement, and remanufactured fuel systems. Further, it provides automated transmissions; standby and prime power generators, controls, paralleling systems, and transfer switches, as well as A/C generator/alternator products under the Stamford and AVK brands; and electrified power systems with components and subsystems, including battery, fuel cell, and hydrogen production technologies. Additionally, it offers filtration, aftertreatment, controls systems, air handling systems, and electric power generation systems, and batteries. It sells its products to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, dealers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Cummins Engine Company and changed its name to Cummins Inc. in 2001. Cummins Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Columbus, Indiana.

About ClearSign Technologies

ClearSign Technologies Corporation designs and develops products and technologies to enhance emission and operational performance, energy efficiency, emission reduction, safety, and overall cost-effectiveness of industrial and commercial systems in the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Hong Kong. The company's technologies include ClearSign core burner technology consists of an industrial burner body and a downstream porous ceramic or metal flame stabilizing structure; ClearSign core process burner technology that provides a direct burner replacement for traditional refinery process heaters; ClearSign core boiler burner technology; ClearSign core flaring burners that can be used individually, or in combination, to provide a flare product with extremely low nitrogen oxide emissions; and ClearSign eye flame sensor, an electrical flame sensor for industrial applications. It serves energy, institutional, commercial and industrial boiler, chemical, and petrochemical industries. The company was formerly known as ClearSign Combustion Corporation and changed its name ClearSign Technologies Corporation in November 2019. ClearSign Technologies Corporation was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.