Comparing ClearOne (NASDAQ:CLRO) & Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT)

ClearOne (NASDAQ:CLRO) and Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.6% of ClearOne shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.4% of Harmonic shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of ClearOne shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Harmonic shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares ClearOne and Harmonic’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ClearOne	-120.46%	-57.86%	-44.28%
Harmonic	9.96%	17.83%	10.23%

Volatility & Risk

ClearOne has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harmonic has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for ClearOne and Harmonic, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ClearOne	0	0	0	0	0.00
Harmonic	1	2	4	0	2.43

Harmonic has a consensus price target of $11.67, indicating a potential upside of 13.38%. Given Harmonic’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Harmonic is more favorable than ClearOne.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares ClearOne and Harmonic”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ClearOne	$11.39 million	0.86	-$8.98 million	($6.99)	-0.81
Harmonic	$678.72 million	1.72	$39.22 million	$0.59	17.44

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

Summary

Harmonic beats ClearOne on 14 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ClearOne

ClearOne, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and sells conferencing, collaboration, and network streaming solutions for voice and visual communications in the United States and internationally. The company offers a range of audio conferencing products, including professional audio conferencing and sound-reinforcement products for use in enterprise, healthcare, education and distance learning, government, legal, and finance organizations; mid-tier premium conferencing products for smaller rooms, and small and medium businesses, which interface with video and Web conferencing systems; USB-based personal and group speakerphones that could be used with PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other portable devices; and traditional tabletop conferencing phones used in conference rooms and offices. It provides professional microphones consisting of beamforming microphones, ceiling microphones, and wireless microphones. In addition, the company offers video products, such as video conferencing and collaboration solutions; professional-grade cameras; and AV networking, which deliver the IP A/V experience by streaming time sensitive high definition audio and video, and control over TCP/IP networks. It sells its commercial products to a network of independent professional audiovisual, information technology, and telecommunications distributors, as well as systems integrators, dealers, value-added resellers, and end-users. ClearOne, Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About Harmonic

Harmonic Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband solutions worldwide. The company operates through Broadband and Video segments. The Broadband segment sells broadband access solutions and related services, including cOS software-based broadband access solutions to broadband operators; and cOS central cloud services, a subscription service for cOS customers. The Video segment sells video processing, production, and playout solutions and services to cable operators, and satellite and telco Pay-TV service providers, as well as to broadcast and media, including streaming media companies. Its video processing appliance solutions include network management and application software, and hardware products, such as encoders, video servers, high-density stream processing systems, and edge processors. This segment also provides VOS360 SaaS platform that provides both streaming and channel origination and distribution services; and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, which enables the packaging and delivery of streaming services, including live streaming, VOD, catch-up TV, start-over TV, network-DVR and cloud-DVR services through HTTP streaming to various device along with dynamic and personal ad insertion. The company also provides technical support and professional services, such as maintenance and support, consulting, implementation, integration services, program management, technical design and planning, building and site preparation, integration and equipment installation, end-to-end system testing, and training, as well as SaaS-related support and deployment. It sells its products through its direct sales force, as well as through independent resellers and systems integrators. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.