Taylor Devices (NASDAQ:TAYD) & Hurco Companies (NASDAQ:HURC) Critical Survey

Hurco Companies (NASDAQ:HURC) and Taylor Devices (NASDAQ:TAYD) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hurco Companies and Taylor Devices”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hurco Companies	$178.55 million	0.77	-$15.12 million	($1.03)	-20.55
Taylor Devices	$39.03 million	4.56	$8.56 million	$2.07	26.60

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.4% of Hurco Companies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.6% of Taylor Devices shares are held by institutional investors. 9.9% of Hurco Companies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.7% of Taylor Devices shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Hurco Companies has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Taylor Devices has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Hurco Companies and Taylor Devices’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hurco Companies	-3.58%	-3.37%	-2.51%
Taylor Devices	17.50%	9.64%	8.90%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Hurco Companies and Taylor Devices, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hurco Companies	1	0	0	0	1.00
Taylor Devices	0	3	0	1	2.50

Taylor Devices has a consensus price target of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.03%. Given Taylor Devices’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Taylor Devices is more favorable than Hurco Companies.

Summary

Taylor Devices beats Hurco Companies on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hurco Companies

Hurco Companies, Inc., an industrial technology company, designs, manufactures, and sells computerized machine tools to companies in the metal cutting industry worldwide. Its principal products include general-purpose computerized machine tools, including vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, and toolroom machines. The company also provides computer control systems and related software for press brake applications. In addition, it offers machine tool components, automation integration equipment, and solutions for job shops; and software options, control upgrades, and accessories and replacement parts for its products, as well as customer service, training, and applications support services. Further, the company provides Autobend computer control systems for press brake machines. It serves independent job shops and specialized short-run production applications within large manufacturing operations, as well as precision tool, die, and mold manufacturers in aerospace, defense, medical equipment, energy, automotive/transportation, electronics, and computer industries. The company sells its products under the Hurco, Milltronics, and Takumi brands through independent agents and distributors, as well as through its direct sales and service organizations. Hurco Companies, Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About Taylor Devices

Taylor Devices, Inc. engages in design, development, manufacture, and marketing of shock absorption, rate control, and energy storage devices for use in machinery, equipment, and structures in the United States, Asia, and internationally. Its products include seismic dampers that are designed to mitigate the effects of earthquakes on structures; Fluidicshoks, which are compact shock absorbers primarily used in defense, aerospace, and commercial industries; and crane and industrial buffers, which are larger versions of the Fluidicshoks for industrial application on cranes and crane trolleys, truck docks, ladle and ingot cars, ore trolleys, and train car stops. The company's products also comprise self-adjusting shock absorbers that include versions of Fluidicshoks, and crane and industrial buffers, which automatically adjust to various impact conditions and are designed for high cycle application primarily in the heavy industry; liquid die springs that are used as component parts of machinery and equipment used in the manufacture of tools and dies; vibration dampers, which are primarily used by aerospace and defense industries to control the response of electronics and optical systems subjected to air, ship, or spacecraft vibration; machined springs used in the aerospace applications; and custom actuators for special aerospace and defense applications. It markets its products through a network of sales representatives and distributors. The company was incorporated in 1955 and is headquartered in North Tonawanda, New York.