Head-To-Head Analysis: Nauticus Robotics (NASDAQ:KITT) and Byrna Technologies (NASDAQ:BYRN)

Nauticus Robotics (NASDAQ:KITT) and Byrna Technologies (NASDAQ:BYRN) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Nauticus Robotics and Byrna Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nauticus Robotics	1	0	0	0	1.00
Byrna Technologies	0	0	4	3	3.43

Byrna Technologies has a consensus target price of $39.50, suggesting a potential upside of 120.18%. Given Byrna Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Byrna Technologies is more favorable than Nauticus Robotics.

Profitability

This table compares Nauticus Robotics and Byrna Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nauticus Robotics	-3,598.93%	N/A	-95.72%
Byrna Technologies	14.43%	18.13%	14.13%

Volatility & Risk

Nauticus Robotics has a beta of -0.2, suggesting that its stock price is 120% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Byrna Technologies has a beta of 2.03, suggesting that its stock price is 103% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

20.5% of Nauticus Robotics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.5% of Byrna Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 14.9% of Nauticus Robotics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of Byrna Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Nauticus Robotics and Byrna Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nauticus Robotics	$1.81 million	5.01	-$134.91 million	($237.35)	-0.01
Byrna Technologies	$85.76 million	4.75	$12.79 million	$0.67	26.78

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

Summary

Byrna Technologies beats Nauticus Robotics on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nauticus Robotics

Nauticus Robotics, Inc. develops ocean robots, cloud software, and services to the ocean industry. The company offers Aquanaut, an autonomous underwater vehicle with sensor suite, which provides capability to observe and inspect subsea assets or other subsea features; Olympic Arm, an all-electric manipulator designed for a variety of intervention tasks on work class remotely operated vehicles; and ToolKITT, a software platform, which consists of interrelated products for ocean sensing, manipulation, autonomous behaviors, survey, search and recovery, and manual intervention. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Webster, Texas.

About Byrna Technologies

Byrna Technologies Inc., a non-lethal defense technology company, provides non-lethal alternative solutions for law enforcement and private security. The company offers handheld personal security devices and shoulder-fired launchers without the need for background check or firearm license; and projectiles including chemical irritant, kinetic, and inert rounds. It offers self-defense aerosol products under the Byran Bad Guy Repellent brand; and accessories and related safety products, which includes carbon dioxide canisters, sighting systems, and holster under the Byran Banshee and Byran Shield brand, as well as Byrna-branded apparel. In addition, the company provides the products to the consumer market through Byrna e-commerce store and Amazon storefront, and network of local, regional and national outdoor and sporting goods stores, either directly or through distributors; and professional security market through Train the Trainer program and de-escalation methods. It operates in the United States, South Africa, Europe, South America, Asia, and Canada. The company was formerly known as Security Devices International, Inc. and changed its name to Byrna Technologies Inc. in March 2020. Byrna Technologies Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts.