Reviewing Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) & Data I/O (NASDAQ:DAIO)

Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) and Data I/O (NASDAQ:DAIO) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Crane NXT and Data I/O, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crane NXT	0	2	5	1	2.88
Data I/O	1	1	1	2	2.80

Crane NXT presently has a consensus target price of $66.83, suggesting a potential upside of 40.02%. Data I/O has a consensus target price of $5.11, suggesting a potential upside of 79.30%. Given Data I/O’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Data I/O is more favorable than Crane NXT.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.5% of Crane NXT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.0% of Data I/O shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Crane NXT shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Data I/O shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Crane NXT has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Data I/O has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Crane NXT and Data I/O”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crane NXT	$1.80 billion	1.52	$145.10 million	$2.42	19.72
Data I/O	$21.50 million	1.24	-$5.24 million	($0.93)	-3.06

Crane NXT has higher revenue and earnings than Data I/O. Data I/O is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Crane NXT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Crane NXT and Data I/O’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crane NXT	7.78%	19.87%	7.43%
Data I/O	-48.73%	-66.83%	-40.69%

Summary

Crane NXT beats Data I/O on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Crane NXT

Crane NXT, Co. operates as an industrial technology company that provides technology solutions to secure, detect, and authenticate customers’ important assets. The company operates through Crane Payment Innovations and Crane Currency segments. The Crane Payment Innovations segment offers electronic equipment and associated software, as well as advanced automation solutions, processing systems, field service solutions, remote diagnostics, and productivity software solutions. The Crane Currency segment provides advanced security solutions based on proprietary technology for securing physical products, including banknotes, consumer goods, and industrial products. Crane NXT, Co. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About Data I/O

Data I/O Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of programming and security deployment systems and services for electronic device manufacturers in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its programming system products are used to program integrated circuits (ICs) with the specific data for the ICs. The company offers PSV handlers off-line automated programming systems, such as PSV2800 automated programming system which focuses on high-volume manufacturing in a lower cost platform; PSV7000 automated programming system for security deployment upgrades; PSV5000 automated programming system that combines mid-range capacity and supports security deployment; and PSV3500 automated programming system which provides basic programming needs. It also provides SentriX security deployment system; and LumenX and non-automated FlashPAK III programming systems. In addition, the company offers hardware support, system installation and repair, and device programming services. It markets and sells its products to original equipment manufacturers in automotive and consumer electronics, internet of things, and industrial, as well as electronic manufacturing service contract manufacturers through direct sales, and indirect sales representatives and distributors. Data I/O Corporation was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.