BIO-key International (NASDAQ:BKYI) and PowerFleet (NASDAQ:AIOT) Critical Contrast

PowerFleet (NASDAQ:AIOT) and BIO-key International (NASDAQ:BKYI) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares PowerFleet and BIO-key International”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PowerFleet	$443.78 million	0.86	-$20.55 million	($0.14)	-20.21
BIO-key International	$6.09 million	0.48	-$7.16 million	($4.11)	-0.50

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.4% of PowerFleet shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.5% of BIO-key International shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of PowerFleet shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of BIO-key International shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for PowerFleet and BIO-key International, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PowerFleet	2	1	3	0	2.17
BIO-key International	1	1	0	0	1.50

PowerFleet currently has a consensus target price of $7.40, suggesting a potential upside of 161.48%. Given PowerFleet’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe PowerFleet is more favorable than BIO-key International.

Volatility and Risk

PowerFleet has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BIO-key International has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares PowerFleet and BIO-key International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PowerFleet	-4.16%	0.48%	0.24%
BIO-key International	-50.01%	-67.31%	-40.28%

Summary

PowerFleet beats BIO-key International on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PowerFleet

PowerFleet, Inc. engages in the provision of fleet management solutions for logistics, industrial, and vehicles. It offers wireless Internet of Things and machine to machine solutions for securing, controlling, tracking, and managing enterprise assets such as industrial trucks, tractor trailers, containers, cargo, and vehicle and truck fleets. It operates through the following geographical segments: United States, Israel, and Other. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, NJ.

About BIO-key International

BIO-key International, Inc. develops and markets fingerprint identification biometric technology and software solutions, and enterprise-ready identity access management solutions for commercial, government, and education customers in the United States and internationally. The company offers BIO-key PortalGuard and PortalGuard IDaaS solutions, a customer-controlled and neutral-by-design cloud-based identity platform that allows customers to integrate with any cloud or on-premises SaaS application, as well as windows device authentication through IAM platform. Its solutions enable its customers to secure their workforces and student populations; and make their partner networks more collaborative. In addition, it provides BIO-key VST and WEB-key products; and Civil and Large-Scale ID Infrastructure solutions that develops finger-based biometric technology. Further, it offers finger scanners for enterprise and consumer markets under SideSwipe, EcoID, and SidePass brand names. The company was formerly known as SAC Technologies and changed its name to BIO-key International, Inc. in 2002. BIO-key International, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Wall, New Jersey.