Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB) & Casio Computer (OTCMKTS:CSIOY) Critical Review

Casio Computer (OTCMKTS:CSIOY) and Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFB) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Dividends

Casio Computer pays an annual dividend of $2.07 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Bel Fuse pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Casio Computer pays out 39.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bel Fuse pays out 6.4% 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.

Risk & Volatility

Casio Computer has a beta of 0.3, indicating that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bel Fuse has a beta of 1.68, indicating that its stock price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Casio Computer and Bel Fuse, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Casio Computer	0	0	0	0	0.00
Bel Fuse	1	0	8	0	2.78

Bel Fuse has a consensus price target of $321.50, suggesting a potential upside of 17.85%. Given Bel Fuse’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bel Fuse is more favorable than Casio Computer.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Casio Computer and Bel Fuse”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Casio Computer	$1.84 billion	1.34	$120.30 million	$5.31	19.79
Bel Fuse	$675.46 million	5.14	$61.54 million	$4.39	62.14

Casio Computer has higher revenue and earnings than Bel Fuse. Casio Computer is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bel Fuse, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

58.4% of Bel Fuse shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Bel Fuse shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Casio Computer and Bel Fuse’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Casio Computer	6.59%	7.69%	5.14%
Bel Fuse	7.84%	12.97%	5.81%

Summary

Bel Fuse beats Casio Computer on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Casio Computer

Casio Computer Co.,Ltd. develops, produces, and sells consumer, system equipment, and other products. The company operates in Timepieces, Consumer, System Equipment, and Other segments. It offers timepieces, electronic dictionaries, calculators, label printers, electronic musical instruments, handheld terminals, cash registers, management support systems, data projectors, formed parts, and molds products. The company was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Bel Fuse

Bel Fuse Inc. designs, manufactures, markets, and sells products that power, protect, and connect electronic circuits. The company’s products are used in the networking, telecommunications, computing, general industrial, high-speed data transmission, military, commercial aerospace, transportation, and e-Mobility industries. It provides power solutions and protection products, including front-end power supplies, board-mount power products, industrial and transportation power products, external power products, and circuit protection products. The company also offers connectivity solutions, such as expanded beam fiber optic connectors, cable assemblies, and active optical devices; copper-based connectors/cable assemblies; radio frequency connectors, cable assemblies, microwave devices, and low loss cables; and ethernet, I/O, and industrial and power connectivity products. In addition, it provides magnetic solutions comprising integrated connector modules, power transformers, SMD power inductors and SMPS transformers, and ethernet discrete components. The company sells its products through direct strategic account managers, regional sales managers working with independent sales representative organizations, and authorized distributors in the United States, the People’s Republic of China, Macao, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Germany, India, Switzerland, and internationally. Bel Fuse Inc. was incorporated in 1949 and is headquartered in West Orange, New Jersey.