Reviewing Yaskawa Electric (OTCMKTS:YASKY) and CTS (NYSE:CTS)

CTS (NYSE:CTS) and Yaskawa Electric (OTCMKTS:YASKY) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

CTS has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Yaskawa Electric has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CTS and Yaskawa Electric’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CTS	12.07%	12.14%	8.56%
Yaskawa Electric	6.86%	8.18%	4.83%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for CTS and Yaskawa Electric, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CTS	0	1	0	0	2.00
Yaskawa Electric	0	1	2	2	3.20

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.9% of CTS shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of CTS shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CTS and Yaskawa Electric”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CTS	$541.32 million	2.84	$65.32 million	$2.19	24.20
Yaskawa Electric	$3.53 billion	2.57	$376.12 million	$1.91	36.68

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

Dividends

CTS pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Yaskawa Electric pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. CTS pays out 7.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Yaskawa Electric pays out 29.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

About CTS

CTS Corporation manufactures and sells sensors, actuators, and connectivity components in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company provides encoders, rotary position sensors, slide potentiometers, industrial and commercial rotary potentiometers. It also provides non-contacting, and contacting pedals; and eBrake pedals. In addition, the company offers flow meters, hydrophones, non-destructive testing, sonar, ultrasonic imaging, piezoelectric materials, piezoelectric sense products, and bulk products. Further, it provides eMobility, chassis, current sensors, clutch, brake, position sensors, stroke sensor, seating, speed, throttle, transmission, turbo, temperature sensors, and technical related products. Additionally, the company offers DIP, rotary selector, tactile, rotary DIP, and toggle switches, as well as provides transducer related products. Furthermore, it provides EMI, RFI, and RFI products; specialty and resistors; and frequency control products. The company sells and markets its products through its sales engineers, independent manufacturer representatives, and distributors. CTS Corporation was founded in 1896 and is based in Lisle, Illinois.

About Yaskawa Electric

YASKAWA Electric Corporation engages in motion control, robotics, system engineering, and other businesses worldwide. It manufactures and sells various AC drives, including general purpose AC drives, specific purpose AC drives, AC Drive for systems, regenerative energy saving units, and PM motors for use in household appliances, such as air conditioners and refrigerators; social infrastructures comprising elevators, escalators, trains, cranes, fans, and pumps; and factories that manufacture printing machinery, textile machinery, rubber machinery, and other materials. The company also offers rotary servo motors, direct drive servo motors, linear motors/linear sliders, machine controllers, positioning sensor encoders, and servo amplifiers for use in industrial robots, semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, machine tools, flat panel display manufacturing equipment, and metal working machines; and arc and spot welding, handling/assembling, collaborative, biomedical, palletizing, press handling, sealing/cutting/laser machining, deburring, painting, glass substrates transfer, and semiconductor wafer transfer robots for use in semiconductor wafer conveyance, arc welding, spot welding, handling, assembly, and palletizing applications. In addition, it provides industrial system electrical products, such as medium-voltage AC drives, system use AC drives, and system controllers for use in iron and steel systems, water and wastewater treatment, crane, and paper-making/film/port cargo handling/fiber/printing applications. Further, the company offers equipment for energy saving and creation comprising PV inverters, systems for large wind turbines, control equipment for small-scale power generation, and motor drive systems for use in photovoltaic power generation, large-scale wind power generation, small-scale power generation, and electric vehicles. The company was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Kitakyushu, Japan.