Head-To-Head Review: FTAI Aviation (NASDAQ:FTAI) and Cadre (NYSE:CDRE)

Cadre (NYSE:CDRE) and FTAI Aviation (NASDAQ:FTAI) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.

Dividends

Cadre pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. FTAI Aviation pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Cadre pays out 47.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FTAI Aviation pays out 43.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Cadre has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Cadre is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk and Volatility

Cadre has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FTAI Aviation has a beta of 1.51, indicating that its stock price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Cadre and FTAI Aviation”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cadre	$610.31 million	1.90	$44.14 million	$0.85	31.82
FTAI Aviation	$2.51 billion	6.65	$501.06 million	$4.60	35.31

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

Profitability

This table compares Cadre and FTAI Aviation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cadre	5.26%	12.02%	4.80%
FTAI Aviation	15.94%	139.59%	11.26%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Cadre and FTAI Aviation, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cadre	0	2	6	1	2.89
FTAI Aviation	0	2	8	0	2.80

Cadre currently has a consensus target price of $43.33, indicating a potential upside of 60.22%. FTAI Aviation has a consensus target price of $310.62, indicating a potential upside of 91.22%. Given FTAI Aviation’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe FTAI Aviation is more favorable than Cadre.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

44.0% of Cadre shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.0% of FTAI Aviation shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.1% of Cadre shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of FTAI Aviation shares are owned 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.

Summary

FTAI Aviation beats Cadre on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cadre

Cadre Holdings, Inc. manufactures and distributes safety that provides protection to users in hazardous or life-threatening situations in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Products and Distribution. It offers body armor product, such as concealable, corrections, and tactical armor under the Safariland and Protech Tactical brand names; survival suits, remotely operated vehicles, specialty tools, blast sensors, accessories, and vehicle blast attenuation seats for bomb safety technicians; bomb suits; duty gear, including belts and accessories; and other protective equipment comprising communications gear, forensic and investigation products, firearms cleaning solutions, and crowd control products. The company also offers third-party products, such as uniforms, optics, boots, firearms, and ammunition. It serves first responders, such as state and local law enforcement, fire and rescue, explosive ordnance disposal technicians, emergency medical technicians, fishing, and wildlife enforcement and departments of corrections, as well as federal agencies including the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Corrections, the Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratories, Waste Isolation Plant, and various foreign government agencies. Cadre Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

About FTAI Aviation

FTAI Aviation Ltd. owns and acquires aviation and offshore energy equipment for the transportation of goods and people worldwide. It operates through two segments, Aviation Leasing and Aerospace Products. The Aviation Leasing segment owns and manages aviation assets, including aircraft and aircraft engines, which it leases and sells to customers. As of December 31, 2023, this segment owned and managed 363 aviation assets consisting of 96 commercial aircraft and 267 engines, including eight aircraft and seventeen engines that were located in Russia. The Aerospace Products segment develops, manufactures, repairs, and sells aircraft engines and aftermarket components for aircraft engines. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in New York, New York.