Comparing THK (OTCMKTS:THKLY) and Eastern (NASDAQ:EML)

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) and THK (OTCMKTS:THKLY) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Eastern has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, THK has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Eastern and THK’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eastern	3.44%	3.38%	1.89%
THK	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Eastern pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. THK pays an annual dividend of $0.37 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Eastern pays out 32.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. THK pays out 123.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Eastern and THK, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eastern	0	2	0	0	2.00
THK	0	1	0	0	2.00

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.0% of Eastern shares are held by institutional investors. 18.4% of Eastern shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Eastern and THK”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eastern	$248.97 million	0.62	$7.13 million	$1.34	19.13
THK	$1.61 billion	3.00	-$468.27 million	$0.30	67.57

Eastern has higher earnings, but lower revenue than THK. Eastern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than THK, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Eastern beats THK on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eastern

The Eastern Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered solutions to industrial markets in the United States and internationally. The company offers turnkey returnable packaging solutions, which are used in the assembly processes of vehicles, aircraft, and durable goods, as well as in production processes of plastic packaging products, packaged consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals; designs and manufactures blow mold tools and injection blow mold tooling products, and 2-step stretch blow molds and related components for the stretch blow molding industry; and supplies blow molds and change parts to the food, beverage, healthcare, and chemical industries. It also provides rotary latches, compression latches, draw latches, hinges, camlocks, key switches, padlocks, and handles; and development and program management services for custom electromechanical and mechanical systems for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and customer applications. In addition, the company designs and manufactures proprietary vision technology for OEMs and aftermarket applications, as well as offers aftermarket components to the heavy- and medium-duty truck, motorhome, and bus markets. The Eastern Company was founded in 1858 and is based in Shelton, Connecticut.

About THK

THK Co., Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of mechanical components worldwide. The company provides linear motion (LM) guides, ball screws, ball splines, LM guide actuators, cross roller rings/ double row angular contact ring, electric actuators, linear motor actuators, cam followers, roller followers, linear bushes, LM strokes, slide packs, slide rails, cross roller guides and tables, linear ball slides, LM and flat rollers, spline nuts, screw nuts, change nuts, precision linear packs, link balls, rod ends, spherical plain bearings, lubrication accessories, and seismic isolation products. Its products are used in various applications, including machine tools, general industrial machinery, precision instruments, semiconductor and LCD manufacturing equipment, industrial robots, electronic devices, and transport systems, as well as in construction, aerospace, medical and assistive, and other manufacturing industries. The company was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.