Genasys (NASDAQ:GNSS) vs. Lantronix (NASDAQ:LTRX) Financial Contrast

Genasys (NASDAQ:GNSS) and Lantronix (NASDAQ:LTRX) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Genasys has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lantronix has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

40.0% of Genasys shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.4% of Lantronix shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.3% of Genasys shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Lantronix shares are owned by 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 Genasys and Lantronix’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Genasys	-10.86%	-435.06%	-9.83%
Lantronix	-3.46%	-4.88%	-3.21%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Genasys and Lantronix, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Genasys	1	0	2	0	2.33
Lantronix	1	0	6	0	2.71

Genasys presently has a consensus target price of $3.87, indicating a potential upside of 177.18%. Lantronix has a consensus target price of $10.80, indicating a potential upside of 109.30%. Given Genasys’ higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Genasys is more favorable than Lantronix.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Genasys and Lantronix”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Genasys	$40.76 million	1.56	-$18.11 million	($0.13)	-10.73
Lantronix	$120.90 million	2.00	-$4.18 million	($0.11)	-46.91

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

Summary

Lantronix beats Genasys on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Genasys

Genasys Inc. engages in the design, development, and commercialization of critical communications hardware and software solutions to alert, inform, and protect people principally in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Hardware and Software. It provides Genasys Protect ALERT, an interactive, cloud-based SaaS solution that is designed to enable SLED and enterprise customers to send critical information to at-risk individuals or groups when an emergency occurs using emails, voice calls, text messages, panic buttons, desktop alerts, TV, social media, and other; and Genasys Protect EVAC that enables responding agencies to determine and communicate the proper scope of a response or evacuation by replacing guesswork with data-driven intelligence; and Genasys Protect CONNECT, an instant communication platform that enables first responders and public safety personnel to collaborate and share information in a single space with text, videos, images, and audio from any location. The company also offers Genasys Protect ACOUSTICS, a mass notification speaker system with Genasys protect command-and-control software; and long range acoustic devices, such as acoustic hailing devices which are used to project alert tones and audible voice messages. It sells its products directly to governments, militaries, end-users, and commercial companies. The company was formerly known as LRAD Corporation. Genasys Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is based in San Diego, California.

About Lantronix

Lantronix, Inc. provides solutions for video surveillance, infotainment systems, and intelligent substations infrastructure in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific Japan. The company's IoT products include IoT System Solutions, which provide wired and wireless connections that enhance the value and utility of modern electronic systems and equipment through secure network connectivity, power for IoT end devices through Power over Ethernet, application hosting, protocol conversion, media conversion, secure access for distributed IoT deployments, and various other functions; Embedded IoT Modules, such as application processing delivering compute to meet customer needs for data transformation, computer vision, machine learning, augmented/virtual reality, audio/video aggregation and distribution, and custom applications; and Software and Engineering Services offers SaaS platform that enables customers to deploy, monitor, manage, and automate across their global deployments through a single platform login. It also offers telematics devices, which provides power efficient products designed to support communications across interfaces and industrial protocols for vehicle, fleet, and asset tracking and management; network switches, media converters, power over ethernet, NICS and optical SFPs, system on modules, and development kits; and services for mechanical, hardware, and software engineering for camera, audio, and artificial intelligence/machine learning development. In addition, the company provides console management, power management, and IP connected keyboard-video-mouse products that offers remote access to IT and networking infrastructure deployed in test labs, data centers, branch offices, remote sites, and server rooms; and hardware engineering, software engineering, and mechanical engineering, rapid prototyping and quality assurance engineering services. Lantronix, Inc. was incorporated in 1989 and is based in Irvine, California.