Critical Contrast: RF Industries (NASDAQ:RFIL) versus Ouster (NASDAQ:OUST)

RF Industries (NASDAQ:RFIL) and Ouster (NASDAQ:OUST) are both technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares RF Industries and Ouster’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
RF Industries	2.83%	15.32%	7.80%
Ouster	-20.36%	-11.70%	-9.25%

Volatility & Risk

RF Industries has a beta of 1.42, suggesting that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ouster has a beta of 3.47, suggesting that its share price is 247% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

23.5% of RF Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.5% of Ouster shares are held by institutional investors. 20.4% of RF Industries shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Ouster shares are held by company 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for RF Industries and Ouster, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
RF Industries	0	2	2	0	2.50
Ouster	1	0	6	0	2.71

RF Industries currently has a consensus price target of $14.50, suggesting a potential upside of 101.64%. Ouster has a consensus price target of $58.00, suggesting a potential upside of 49.12%. Given RF Industries’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe RF Industries is more favorable than Ouster.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares RF Industries and Ouster”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
RF Industries	$80.59 million	0.97	$80,000.00	$0.22	32.69
Ouster	$169.38 million	16.56	-$60.38 million	($0.69)	-56.37

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

Summary

RF Industries beats Ouster on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About RF Industries

RF Industries, Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets interconnect products and systems in the United States, Canada, Italy, Mexico, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, RF Connector and Cable Assembly, and Custom Cabling Manufacturing and Assembly. The company designs, manufactures, and distributes various coaxial connectors and cable assemblies that are integrated with coaxial connectors; custom copper and fiber cable assemblies, complex hybrid fiber optic and power solution cables, adapters, and electromechanical wiring harnesses for communication, computer, LAN, automotive, and medical equipment; energy-efficient cooling systems for wireless base stations and remote equipment shelters; and custom-designed pole-ready 5G small cell integrated enclosures. It also designs and manufactures cable assemblies and wiring harnesses for blue chip industrial, oilfield, instrumentation, medical, and military customers; connectivity solutions to telecommunications and data communications distributors; thermal control systems; and radio frequency and microwave distribution system products, such as dividers, directional couplers, and filters. The company sells its products through warehousing distributors and in-house marketing and sales team. It serves telecommunications carriers and equipment manufacturers, wireless and network infrastructure carriers, and original equipment manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Celltronics, Inc. and changed its name RF Industries, Ltd. in November 1990. RF Industries, Ltd. was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Ouster

Ouster, Inc. provides lidar sensors for the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries in Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its products include high-resolution scanning and solid-state digital lidar sensors, analog lidar sensors, and software solutions. The company offers Ouster Sensor, a scanning sensor; and Digital Flash, a solid-state flash sensor. It also provides surround-view lidar sensors, which include Ouster Gemini, a perception platform for smart infrastructure deployments; and Blue City, a Gemini-powered solution for traffic operations, planning, and safety. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.