Head to Head Comparison: Haier Electronics Group (OTCMKTS:HRELY) and Sony (NYSE:SONY)

Sony (NYSE:SONY) and Haier Electronics Group (OTCMKTS:HRELY) are both large-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Sony pays an annual dividend of $0.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Haier Electronics Group pays an annual dividend of $0.58 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Sony pays out 9.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Haier Electronics Group pays out 27.5% 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Sony and Haier Electronics Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sony	1	1	4	1	2.71
Haier Electronics Group	0	0	0	0	0.00

Sony currently has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential downside of 8.55%. Given Sony’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Sony is more favorable than Haier Electronics Group.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

14.1% of Sony shares are held by institutional investors. 7.0% of Sony shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sony and Haier Electronics Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sony	$82.90 billion	1.71	-$2.16 billion	$1.12	21.48
Haier Electronics Group	$10.98 billion	1.15	$1.06 billion	$2.11	21.27

Haier Electronics Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sony. Haier Electronics Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sony, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Sony has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Haier Electronics Group has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sony and Haier Electronics Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sony	-2.00%	13.06%	5.22%
Haier Electronics Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Sony beats Haier Electronics Group on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sony

Sony Group Corporation designs, develops, produces, and sells electronic equipment, instruments, and devices for the consumer, professional, and industrial markets in Japan, the United States, Europe, China, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company distributes software titles and add-on content through digital networks; network services related to game, video, and music content; and home gaming consoles, packaged and game software, and peripheral devices. It also develops, produces, markets, and distributes recorded music; publishes music; and produces and distributes animation titles, game applications, and various services for music and visual products. In addition, the company produces, acquires, and distributes live-action and animated motion pictures for theatrical release, as well as scripted and animated series, unscripted reality or light entertainment, daytime serials, game shows, television movies, and miniseries and other television programs; operation of television networks and direct-to-consumer streaming services; operates a visual effects and animation unit; and manages a studio facility. Further, it researches, develops, designs, produces, markets, distributes, sells, and services televisions, and video and sound products; interchangeable lens, as well as compact digital, and consumer and professional video cameras; projectors and medical equipment; mobile phones, accessories, and applications; and metal oxide semiconductor image sensors, charge-coupled devices, integration systems, and other semiconductors. Additionally, it offers Internet broadband network services; recording media, and storage media products; and life and non-life insurance, banking, and other services, as well as creates and distributes content for PCs and mobile phones. The company was formerly known as Sony Corporation and changed its name to Sony Group Corporation in April 2021. Sony Group Corporation was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Haier Electronics Group

As of December 21, 2020, operates as a subsidiary of Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd.