Reviewing Keyence (KYCCF) and Its Peers

Keyence (OTCMKTS:KYCCF) is one of 436 publicly-traded companies in the “Machinery” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Keyence to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Keyence	N/A	N/A	N/A
Keyence Competitors	-1,044.73%	-15.17%	0.52%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Keyence and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Keyence	0	1	2	1	3.00
Keyence Competitors	4143	14570	17996	791	2.41

As a group, “Machinery” companies have a potential upside of 33.44%. Given Keyence’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Keyence has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

51.7% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by institutional investors. 14.3% of shares of all “Machinery” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Keyence has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Keyence’s rivals have a beta of 4.70, suggesting that their average share price is 370% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Keyence and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Keyence	$7.31 billion	$2.78 billion	138.62
Keyence Competitors	$4.71 billion	$366.14 million	1.51

Keyence has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Keyence is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Keyence beats its rivals on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

Keyence Company Profile

Keyence Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of factory automation solutions in Japan, China, the United States, and internationally. The company offers photoelectric, fiber optic, laser, positioning, vision, specific solution, and inductive proximity sensors, as well as network communication units. It also provides measurement sensors, such as laser displacement and profiler, optical/laser micrometer, inductive displacement sensor, 3D interference measurement, spectral interference displacement, and contact displacement/LVDT sensors; and measurement systems, including optical comparators, 3D scanners, multisensor measurement, and CMM/laser trackers. In addition, the company provides safety products comprising safety laser scanners, light curtains, interlock switches, and controllers; and pressure, flow, level, and temperature sensors for monitoring equipment processes. Further, it offers static eliminators/ionizers and electrostatic sensors, which protect workers, machinery, and products from the damaging effects of electrostatic charge; vision systems and sensors; and programmable logic controllers, servo motor and system, and other controls that are used for machine control applications. Additionally, the company provides barcode and handheld scanners; laser marking systems/laser markers, UV laser coder, and industrial continuous inkjet printers; digital, 3D surface profilers, elemental analyzers, optical profilometers, and fluorescence microscopes; data loggers; and mobile/ handheld computers. It serves customers in automotive, semiconductors/LCDs, electronic devices, food/pharmaceutical, medical technology, logistics, metals, plastics, and films/sheets industries. Keyence Corporation was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Osaka, Japan.