WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD) and Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) Critical Contrast

WeRide (NASDAQ:WRD) and Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) are both mid-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.8% of Gentex shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Gentex shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares WeRide and Gentex’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WeRide	-329.54%	-24.31%	-22.06%
Gentex	15.19%	16.05%	13.85%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for WeRide and Gentex, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WeRide	1	0	4	0	2.60
Gentex	0	6	2	0	2.25

WeRide presently has a consensus target price of $13.13, suggesting a potential upside of 70.90%. Gentex has a consensus target price of $26.71, suggesting a potential upside of 8.55%. Given WeRide’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe WeRide is more favorable than Gentex.

Risk and Volatility

WeRide has a beta of 4.32, meaning that its stock price is 332% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gentex has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares WeRide and Gentex”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WeRide	$49.47 million	50.29	-$350.09 million	($0.84)	-9.14
Gentex	$2.53 billion	2.13	$384.84 million	$1.74	14.14

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

Summary

Gentex beats WeRide on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About WeRide

WeRide, Inc. engages in the development of an autonomous driving technology platform. It offers Robotaxi, Robobus, Robovan, Robosweeper, and advanced driving solutions, providing smart services in online ride-hailing, on-demand transport, urban logistics, and environmental sanitation. The company was founded by Tony Xu Han and Yan Li in February 2017 and is headquartered in Guangzhou, China.

About Gentex

Gentex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and supplies digital vision, connected car, dimmable glass, and fire protection products in the United States, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, and internationally. It operates through Automotive Products and Other segments. The company offers automotive products, including interior and exterior electrochromic automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, automotive electronics, and non-automatic-dimming rearview mirrors for automotive passenger cars, light trucks, pick-up trucks, sport utility vehicles, and vans for original equipment manufacturers, automotive suppliers, and various aftermarket and accessory customers. It also provides variable dimmable windows to aircraft manufacturers and airline operators. In addition, the company offers photoelectric smoke detectors and alarms, electrochemical carbon monoxide alarms and detectors, audible and visual signaling alarms, and bells and speakers used in fire detection systems in office buildings, hotels, and other commercial and residential buildings, as well as researches and develops nanofiber chemical sensing products. It sells its fire protection products directly, as well as through sales managers and manufacturer representative organizations to fire protection and security product distributors, electrical wholesale houses, and original equipment manufacturers of fire protection systems. Gentex Corporation was incorporated in 1974 and is headquartered in Zeeland, Michigan.