Critical Comparison: Spectris (SEPJF) and Its Competitors

Spectris (OTCMKTS:SEPJF) is one of 376 publicly-traded companies in the “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Spectris to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Dividends

Spectris pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Spectris pays out 23.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.7% and pay out 66.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Spectris and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spectris	0	1	0	0	2.00
Spectris Competitors	1949	7404	10120	615	2.47

As a group, “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies have a potential upside of 13.82%. Given Spectris’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Spectris has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

61.3% of Spectris shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.5% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by institutional investors. 16.4% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Spectris and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spectris	N/A	N/A	N/A
Spectris Competitors	-201.36%	-148.66%	-6.99%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Spectris and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spectris	N/A	N/A	44.36
Spectris Competitors	$4.02 billion	$183.97 million	-8.06

Spectris’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Spectris. Spectris is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Spectris competitors beat Spectris on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

About Spectris

Spectris plc provides precision measurement solutions worldwide. It operates through Spectris Scientific, Spectris Dynamics, and Other segments. The Spectris Scientific segment provides advanced sensors and instruments used to measure, analyze, and characterize materials; and monitor ultra-clean manufacturing environments. Spectris Dynamics segment offers differentiated sensing, data acquisition, analysis modelling, and simulation solutions for product development and enhance product performance. The Other segment operates high-value precision in-line sensing and monitoring businesses. It serves life sciences/pharmaceuticals, technology-led industrials, automotive, electronics and semiconductor, academic research, and other markets, as well as metals, minerals, and mining. The company was formerly known as Fairey Group plc and changed its name to Spectris plc in May 2001. Spectris plc was incorporated in 1986 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.