Financial Contrast: Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) & Luxfer (NYSE:LXFR)

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) and Luxfer (NYSE:LXFR) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Stratasys and Luxfer, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stratasys	1	1	4	0	2.50
Luxfer	0	2	0	1	2.67

Stratasys presently has a consensus price target of $12.33, indicating a potential upside of 76.95%. Given Stratasys’ higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Stratasys is more favorable than Luxfer.

Profitability

This table compares Stratasys and Luxfer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stratasys	-21.05%	-1.77%	-1.38%
Luxfer	2.20%	12.22%	7.23%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.8% of Stratasys shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of Luxfer shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of Stratasys shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Luxfer shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Stratasys and Luxfer”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stratasys	$551.10 million	1.11	-$104.29 million	($1.34)	-5.20
Luxfer	$384.60 million	1.21	$7.70 million	$0.30	57.55

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

Risk & Volatility

Stratasys has a beta of 1.99, suggesting that its stock price is 99% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Luxfer has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Luxfer beats Stratasys on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Stratasys

Stratasys Ltd. provides connected polymer-based 3D printing solutions. It offers range of 3D printing systems, which includes polyjet printer, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, stereolithography printing systems, origin P3 printers, and selective absorption fusion printer for additive manufacturing, and tooling and rapid prototyping for various vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare. The company provides consumable materials, including 3D printing materials comprising FDM, polyjet, and stereolithography materials for manufacturing applications, such as jigs and fixtures, investment casting, and injection mold or composite tooling applications; and other material. In addition, it offers software and services, which includes cloud, desktop and mobile technologies comprising GrabCAD, an additive manufacturing platform to manage production-scale operations; and GrabCAD Print, job programming software enables the unique features of 3D printing technologies, such as creating lightweight, structurally sound infills for FDM, and multi-material and color and material management for polyjet. The company also provides GrabCAD Shop including scheduling, remote monitoring, and analytics; GrabCAD Connect provides two-way SDK integration for third-party software applications; and GrabCAD Community, an online community of professional engineers, designers, manufacturers and students who share their practices through tutorials, discussion forums, design/print challenges, and 3D content. Further, it offers GrabCAD Shop, which simplifies 3D printing shop workflow; GrabCAD Streamline Software Development Kit (SDK) to support enterprise goals such as system connectivity, compliance, and workflow automation; and Grab CAD Software Partner program for independent software vendors. The company sells its products through a network of resellers and independent sales agents worldwide. Stratasys Ltd. is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

About Luxfer

Luxfer Holdings PLC, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and supplies high-performance materials, components, and high-pressure gas containment devices for defense and first response, healthcare, transportation, and general industrial applications. The company operates through three segments: Elektron, Gas Cylinders, and graphic Arts. The Elektron segment focuses on specialty materials based primarily on magnesium and zirconium. This segment also provides magnesium alloys for use in aerospace, healthcare, and oil and gas applications; magnesium powders for use in countermeasure flares, as well as heater meals; and zirconium-based materials and oxides used as catalysts and in the manufacture of advanced ceramics, fiber-optic fuel cells, pharmaceuticals, and other performance products. The Gas Cylinders segment manufactures and markets specialized products using carbon composites and aluminum alloys, including pressurized cylinders for use in various applications comprising self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) for firefighters, containment of oxygen, and other medical gases for healthcare, alternative fuel vehicles, and general industrial applications. The Graphic Art segments provides magnesium photo-engraving plates, engraving metals, and etching chemicals. This segment also offers magnesium, copper, and zinc photo-engraving plates for graphic arts and luxury packaging; developer solutions; and solid wrought magnesium slab and sheet. Luxfer Holdings PLC has operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Canada, rest of Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.