Critical Analysis: Asia Pacific Wire & Cable (APWC) & Its Rivals

Asia Pacific Wire & Cable (NASDAQ:APWC) is one of 218 public companies in the “Electrical Equipment” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Asia Pacific Wire & Cable to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Asia Pacific Wire & Cable and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable	1.28%	2.22%	1.40%
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Competitors	-218.17%	-207.16%	-8.45%

Dividends

Asia Pacific Wire & Cable pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Asia Pacific Wire & Cable pays out 28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.4% and pay out 29.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Asia Pacific Wire & Cable is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility and Risk

Asia Pacific Wire & Cable has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Asia Pacific Wire & Cable’s peers have a beta of -19.64, indicating that their average stock price is 2,064% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Asia Pacific Wire & Cable and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable	0	1	0	0	2.00
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Competitors	2137	4967	6913	412	2.39

As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 20.31%. Given Asia Pacific Wire & Cable’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Asia Pacific Wire & Cable has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Asia Pacific Wire & Cable and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable	$529.68 million	$3.67 million	5.32
Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Competitors	$2.44 billion	$144.34 million	22.21

Asia Pacific Wire & Cable’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Asia Pacific Wire & Cable. Asia Pacific Wire & Cable is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

1.0% of Asia Pacific Wire & Cable shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.2% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Asia Pacific Wire & Cable shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.0% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Asia Pacific Wire & Cable peers beat Asia Pacific Wire & Cable on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Asia Pacific Wire & Cable

Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corp. Ltd. is a holding company, which engages in the business of owning operating companies in the power cable, telecommunication cable, enameled wire, and electronic cable industry. It operates through the following segments: North Asia, Thailand, and Rest of the World. The company was founded on September 19, 1996 and is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan.