Generac (NYSE:GNRC) and Energy Focus (NASDAQ:EFOI) Head to Head Analysis

Generac (NYSE:GNRC) and Energy Focus (NASDAQ:EFOI) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

Generac has a beta of 1.91, suggesting that its share price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Energy Focus has a beta of 2.18, suggesting that its share price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.0% of Generac shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.7% of Energy Focus shares are held by institutional investors. 2.4% of Generac shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 48.9% of Energy Focus shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Generac and Energy Focus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Generac	5.82%	17.83%	8.58%
Energy Focus	-23.77%	-42.44%	-25.33%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Generac and Energy Focus, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Generac	0	7	13	2	2.77
Energy Focus	1	0	0	0	1.00

Generac presently has a consensus price target of $289.45, suggesting a potential upside of 54.62%. Given Generac’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Generac is more favorable than Energy Focus.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Generac and Energy Focus”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Generac	$4.44 billion	2.49	$159.55 million	$4.34	43.14
Energy Focus	$6.50 million	2.87	-$1.03 million	($0.25)	-11.72

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

Summary

Generac beats Energy Focus on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Generac

Generac Holdings Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes various energy technology products and solution worldwide. The company offers residential automatic standby generators, automatic transfer switch, air-cooled engine residential standby generators, and liquid-cooled engine generators; Mobile Link, a remote monitoring system for home standby generators; residential storage solution, which consists of a system of batteries, an inverter, photovoltaic optimizers, power electronic controls, and other components; smart home solutions, such as smart thermostats and a suite of home monitoring products. It also provides smart home energy management devices and sensors for heating and cooling system; smart doorbell cameras; and portable and inverter generators; multiple portable battery solutions; manual transfer switches; outdoor power equipment, including trimmers, field and brush mowers, log splitters, stump grinders, chipper shredders, lawn and leaf vacuums, and pressure washers and water pumps; and battery-powered turf care products. In addition, the company offers commercial and industrial products comprising cleaner-burning natural gas fueled generators; light-commercial standby generators and related transfer switches; stationary generators; single-engine industrial generators; industrial standby generators; industrial transfer switches; light towers, mobile generators, commercial mobile pumps, heaters, dust-suppression equipment, and mobile energy storage systems; stationary energy storage system and related inverter products; and aftermarket service parts and product accessories. The company distributes its products through independent residential dealers, industrial distributors and dealers, national and regional retailers, e-commerce partners, electrical/HVAC/solar wholesalers, solar installers, catalogs, equipment rental companies, and other equipment distributors; and directly to end users. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

About Energy Focus

Energy Focus, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells energy-efficient lighting systems, and controls and ultraviolet-C light disinfection products in the United States and internationally. It offers military maritime market light-emitting diode (LED) lighting products, such as Military-grade Intellitube retrofit TLED and the Invisitube ultra-low EMI TLED; and Military-grade fixtures, including LED globe lights, berth lights; high-bay fixtures and LED retrofit kits to serve the United States navy and allied foreign navies. The company also provides RedCap emergency battery backup TLEDs; EnFocus lighting platform, including dimming and color tuning; and LED retrofit solutions for linear fluorescent lamps, downlights, and retrofit kits for low-bay, high-bay and office applications; LED dock lights. It sells its products to military maritime, industrial, and commercial markets through direct sales employees, independent sales representatives, lighting agents, and distributors, as well as via e-commerce. The company was formerly known as Fiberstars, Inc. and changed its name to Energy Focus, Inc. in May 2007. Energy Focus, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Solon, Ohio.