Reviewing CDW (NASDAQ:CDW) & Kimball Electronics (NASDAQ:KE)

Kimball Electronics (NASDAQ:KE) and CDW (NASDAQ:CDW) are both technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

76.0% of Kimball Electronics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of CDW shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Kimball Electronics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of CDW shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kimball Electronics and CDW”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kimball Electronics	$1.43 billion	0.32	$27.96 million	$0.84	22.93
CDW	$22.42 billion	0.88	$1.07 billion	$8.57	18.32

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Kimball Electronics and CDW, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kimball Electronics	0	3	1	0	2.25
CDW	0	3	5	1	2.78

Kimball Electronics presently has a consensus target price of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 66.15%. CDW has a consensus target price of $167.38, indicating a potential upside of 6.61%. Given Kimball Electronics’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Kimball Electronics is more favorable than CDW.

Profitability

This table compares Kimball Electronics and CDW’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kimball Electronics	1.95%	4.41%	2.35%
CDW	4.60%	50.61%	7.91%

Volatility and Risk

Kimball Electronics has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CDW has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

CDW beats Kimball Electronics on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kimball Electronics

Kimball Electronics, Inc. engages in the provision of electronics manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain support services to customers in the automotive, medical, and industrial end markets. The Company also offers contract manufacturing services, including engineering and supply chain support for the production of electronic assemblies and other products, including non-electronic components, medical devices, medical disposables, and precision molded plastics, as well as automation, test, and inspection equipment primarily used in automotive, medical, and industrial applications. In addition, it is also involved in the production and testing of printed circuit board assemblies, as well as clean room assembly, cold chain, and product sterilization management activities. Further, the company offers design services and support, supply chain services and support, rapid prototyping and new product introduction support, product design and process validation and qualification, industrialization and automation of manufacturing processes, reliability testing, aftermarket services, drug delivery devices and solutions with and without electronics, and product life cycle management services, as well as and assembly of medical, automotive, and industrial products. It operates in the United States, China, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Thailand, India, Japan, Vietnam, and internationally. Kimball Electronics, Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Jasper, Indiana.

About CDW

CDW Corporation provides information technology (IT) solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Corporate, Small Business, and Public. The company offers discrete hardware and software products and services, as well as integrated IT solutions, including on-premise and cloud capabilities across hybrid infrastructure, digital experience, and security. It also provides hardware products comprising notebooks/mobile devices, tablets, network communications, desktop computers, collaboration, data storage and servers, and others; and software products, such as cloud solutions, software assurance, application suites, security, virtualization, operating systems, and network management. In addition, the company offers advisory and design, software development, implementation, managed, professional, configuration, partner, and telecom services, as well as warranties; delivers and manages mission critical software, systems, and network solutions; and implementation and installation, and repair services to its customers through various third-party service providers. It serves government, education, and healthcare customers; and small, medium, and large business customers. CDW Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois.