ESS Tech (NYSE:GWH) vs. Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) Head-To-Head Contrast

ESS Tech (NYSE:GWH) and Garmin (NYSE:GRMN) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

46.8% of ESS Tech shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.6% of Garmin shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of ESS Tech shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.4% of Garmin shares are held 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.

Volatility and Risk

ESS Tech has a beta of 1.4, suggesting that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Garmin has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for ESS Tech and Garmin, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESS Tech	1	5	1	0	2.00
Garmin	2	1	1	1	2.20

ESS Tech currently has a consensus target price of $2.88, suggesting a potential upside of 7.68%. Garmin has a consensus target price of $239.50, suggesting a potential upside of 24.64%. Given Garmin’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Garmin is more favorable than ESS Tech.

Profitability

This table compares ESS Tech and Garmin’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESS Tech	-1,045.28%	-592.34%	-125.15%
Garmin	22.63%	19.42%	15.73%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ESS Tech and Garmin”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ESS Tech	$6.30 million	6.17	-$86.22 million	($5.10)	-0.52
Garmin	$6.94 billion	5.32	$1.41 billion	$8.12	23.67

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

Summary

Garmin beats ESS Tech on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ESS Tech

ESS Tech, Inc., an energy storage company, designs and produces iron flow batteries for commercial and utility-scale energy storage applications worldwide. It offers energy storage products, which include Energy Warehouse, a behind-the-meter solution; and Energy Center, a front-of-the-meter solution. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon.

About Garmin

Garmin Ltd. designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of wireless devices worldwide. Its Fitness segment offers running and multi-sport watches; cycling products; smartwatch devices; scales and monitors; and fitness accessories. This segment also provides Garmin Connect and Garmin Connect Mobile, which are web and mobile platforms where users can track and analyze their fitness, activities and workouts, and wellness data; and Connect IQ, an application development platform. The company's Outdoor segment offers adventure watches, outdoor handhelds and satellite communicators, golf devices, consumer automotive devices, and dog devices, as well as InReach and Gramin response communication device. Its Aviation segment designs, manufactures, and markets various aircraft avionics solutions, including integrated flight decks, electronic flight displays and instrumentation, navigation and communication products, automatic flight control systems and safety-enhancing technologies, audio control systems, engine indication systems, traffic awareness and avoidance solutions, ADS-B and transponders, weather information and avoidance solutions, datalink and connectivity solutions, and various services. The company's Marine segment provides chartplotters and multi-function displays, cartography products, fishfinders, sonar products, autopilot systems, radars, compliant instrument displays and sensors, VHF communication radios, handhelds and wearable devices, sailing products, audio products and accessories, digital switching products, and trolling motors. Its Auto segment offers embedded domain controllers and infotainment units; and software, map database, cameras, wearables, and automotive solutions. The company sells its products through independent retailers, dealers, distributors, installation and repair shops, and original equipment manufacturers, as well as online webshop. Garmin Ltd. was founded in 1989 and is based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.