Blue Bird (NASDAQ:BLBD – Get Free Report) and LiqTech International (NASDAQ:LIQT – Get Free Report) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and dividends.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings for Blue Bird and LiqTech International, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Blue Bird | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3.00 |
| LiqTech International | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Blue Bird currently has a consensus price target of $85.33, indicating a potential upside of 51.85%. LiqTech International has a consensus price target of $1.30, indicating a potential upside of 135.59%. Given LiqTech International’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LiqTech International is more favorable than Blue Bird.
Valuation & Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Blue Bird | $1.48 billion | 1.20 | $127.72 million | $8.22 | 6.84 |
| LiqTech International | $16.51 million | 1.10 | -$8.60 million | ($0.84) | -0.66 |
Blue Bird has higher revenue and earnings than LiqTech International. LiqTech International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Blue Bird, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
Blue Bird has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LiqTech International has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Blue Bird and LiqTech International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Blue Bird | 17.48% | 39.97% | 18.93% |
| LiqTech International | -63.18% | -69.03% | -32.37% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
93.6% of Blue Bird shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.1% of LiqTech International shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Blue Bird shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.8% of LiqTech International shares are owned by 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.
Summary
Blue Bird beats LiqTech International on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Blue Bird
Blue Bird Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, engineers, manufactures, and sells school buses in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Bus and Parts. It offers Type C, Type D, and specialty buses; and alternative power options through its propane powered, gasoline powered, compressed natural gas powered, and electric powered school buses, as well as diesel engines. The company also sells replacement bus parts; and provides financing services and extended warranties related to its products. Blue Bird Corporation sells its products through drop ship and a network of dealers, as well as directly to fleet operators, the United States government, and state governments; independent service centers; and maintains a parts distribution center. Blue Bird Corporation was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Macon, Georgia.
About LiqTech International
LiqTech International, Inc., a clean technology company, designs, develops, produces, markets, and sells automated filtering systems, ceramic silicon carbide liquid applications, and diesel particulate air filters in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America. The company operates through Water, Ceramics, and Plastics segments. It also manufactures and sells silicon carbide ceramic filtration technologies for liquid and gas purification; and diesel particulate filters for exhaust emission control solutions to the verified retrofit and the original equipment manufacturer market. In addition, the company develops, manufactures, and sells liquid filtration systems, which are used for the marine scrubber systems, filtration of produced water, industrial applications, pool and spa water, food and beverage application, and silicon carbide membrane technology. Further, it provides flexible and plastics manufacturing products for machining, welding, bending, and solvent cementing. LiqTech International, Inc. sells its products primarily to industrial customers through direct sales, systems integrators, distributors, agents, and partners. The company was formerly known as Blue Moose Media, Inc. and changed its name to LiqTech International, Inc. in October 2011. LiqTech International, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Ballerup, Denmark.
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