Comparing Preformed Line Products (NASDAQ:PLPC) & Shoals Technologies Group (NASDAQ:SHLS)

Shoals Technologies Group (NASDAQ:SHLS) and Preformed Line Products (NASDAQ:PLPC) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Shoals Technologies Group and Preformed Line Products, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shoals Technologies Group	0	6	11	0	2.65
Preformed Line Products	0	0	1	1	3.50

Shoals Technologies Group currently has a consensus target price of $10.71, suggesting a potential upside of 51.12%. Preformed Line Products has a consensus target price of $275.00, suggesting a potential downside of 35.94%. Given Shoals Technologies Group’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Shoals Technologies Group is more favorable than Preformed Line Products.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.2% of Preformed Line Products shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Shoals Technologies Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 33.0% of Preformed Line Products shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Shoals Technologies Group and Preformed Line Products”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shoals Technologies Group	$475.33 million	2.51	$33.57 million	$0.19	37.32
Preformed Line Products	$740.15 million	2.84	$35.28 million	$8.88	48.34

Preformed Line Products has higher revenue and earnings than Shoals Technologies Group. Shoals Technologies Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Preformed Line Products, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Shoals Technologies Group and Preformed Line Products’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shoals Technologies Group	5.41%	10.07%	6.38%
Preformed Line Products	5.82%	10.64%	7.65%

Risk & Volatility

Shoals Technologies Group has a beta of 1.93, suggesting that its stock price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Preformed Line Products has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Preformed Line Products beats Shoals Technologies Group on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shoals Technologies Group

Shoals Technologies Group, Inc. provides electrical balance of system (EBOS) solutions and components for solar, battery energy, and electric vehicle (EV) charging applications in the United States and internationally. The company designs, manufactures, and sells system solutions for both homerun and combine-as-you-go wiring architectures, as well as offers technical support services. It provides EBOS components, including combiners; plug-n-play branch connectors and inline fuses; AC disconnects; recombiners; wireless monitoring; junction boxes; wire management; EV power cabinets; and battery energy storage systems cabinets, as well as cable assemblies, transition enclosures, and splice boxes. In addition, the company offers eMobility solutions, such as a power center, which combines equipment needed to protect the charging equipment and transform voltage levels from the electric utility to those needed on the respective site; quick connect solutions for chargers to connect to the Shoals system; big lead assembly (BLA) technology in the EV space to connect multiple chargers to a single power center; and a raceway system that protects the above ground EV BLAs in walk over and drive over applications. Further, it provides Snapshot IV, a solar operations and maintenance solution that monitors the specific voltage and current of individual solar panels and compares the results against the manufacturer's projected performance. The company sells its products to engineering, procurement, and construction firms that build solar energy projects; utilities; solar developers, independent power producers; solar module manufacturers; and charge point operators. Shoals Technologies Group, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Portland, Tennessee.

About Preformed Line Products

Preformed Line Products Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures products and systems that are used in the construction and maintenance of overhead, ground-mounted, and underground networks for the energy, telecommunication, cable, data communication, and other industries. The company offers optical ground wire products to support, protect, terminate, and splice transmission and distribution lines, as well as bolted, welded, and compressed connectors for substations; and string hardware products, polymer insulators, wildlife protection, substation fittings, and motion control devices. It also provides rugged outside plant closures to protect and support wireline and wireless networks, such as copper cable or fiber optic cable from moisture, environmental hazards, and other contaminants; and hardware assemblies, pole line hardware, plastic products, cable dynamics/vibration solutions, interior/exterior connectors, tools, and urethane solutions that are used by energy, renewable energy, communications, cable, and special industries for various applications. The company serves public and private energy utilities and communication companies, cable operators, governmental agencies, contractors and subcontractors, distributors, and value-added resellers in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It markets its products through a direct sales force, as well as through manufacturing representatives. Preformed Line Products Company was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Mayfield Village, Ohio.