American Superconductor (AMSC) vs. Its Competitors Critical Contrast

American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC) is one of 217 public companies in the “Electrical Equipment” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare American Superconductor to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

American Superconductor has a beta of 3.32, suggesting that its share price is 232% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Superconductor’s rivals have a beta of -21.05, suggesting that their average share price is 2,205% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares American Superconductor and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Superconductor	$320.87 million	$133.81 million	9.30
American Superconductor Competitors	$2.38 billion	$139.72 million	22.83

American Superconductor’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than American Superconductor. American Superconductor is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

52.3% of American Superconductor shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.1% of shares of all “Electrical Equipment” companies are held by institutional investors. 3.6% of American Superconductor shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.6% 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 stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares American Superconductor and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Superconductor	42.56%	27.41%	20.63%
American Superconductor Competitors	-358.38%	-46.43%	-8.07%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for American Superconductor and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Superconductor	0	2	2	1	2.80
American Superconductor Competitors	2273	5143	7162	433	2.38

American Superconductor currently has a consensus price target of $55.00, suggesting a potential upside of 95.10%. As a group, “Electrical Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 35.16%. Given American Superconductor’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe American Superconductor is more favorable than its rivals.

Summary

American Superconductor beats its rivals on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

American Superconductor Company Profile

American Superconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides megawatt-scale power resiliency solutions worldwide. The company operates through Grid and Wind segments. The Grid segment offers products and services that enable electric utilities, industrial facilities, and renewable energy project developers to connect, transmit, and distribute power under the Gridtec Solutions brand. It provides transmission planning services, which identify power grid congestion, poor power quality, and other risks; grid interconnection solutions for wind farms and solar power plants, power quality systems, and transmission and distribution cable systems; D-VAR systems used for controlling power flow and voltage in the AC transmission system; actiVAR system, a fast-switching medium-voltage reactive compensation solution; armorVAR system installed for reactive compensation, power factor correction, loss reduction, utility bill savings, and mitigation of common power quality concerns related to power converter-based generation and load devices; and D-VAR volt var optimization (VVO) that serves the distribution power grid market. This segment also offers ship protection systems, which reduce a naval ship’s magnetic signature; and ON board power delivery systems, power generation systems, and propulsion systems; and transformers and rectifiers systems. The Wind segment designs wind turbine systems and licenses these designs to third parties under the Windtec Solutions brand. It also supplies power electronics and software-based control systems, engineered designs, and support services; and provides customer support services to wind turbine manufacturers. This segment’s design portfolio comprises a range of drivetrains and power ratings of 2 megawatts and higher. American Superconductor Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Ayer, Massachusetts.