Critical Survey: Corning (NYSE:GLW) and Eltek (NASDAQ:ELTK)

Eltek (NASDAQ:ELTK) and Corning (NYSE:GLW) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

64.6% of Eltek shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.8% of Corning shares are owned by institutional investors. 72.0% of Eltek shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Corning shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Eltek and Corning, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eltek	1	0	0	0	1.00
Corning	0	6	11	0	2.65

Corning has a consensus price target of $178.64, suggesting a potential upside of 7.44%. Given Corning’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Corning is more favorable than Eltek.

Profitability

This table compares Eltek and Corning’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eltek	-12.66%	-13.57%	-9.01%
Corning	11.20%	20.09%	8.00%

Volatility & Risk

Eltek has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Corning has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Eltek and Corning”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eltek	$51.79 million	1.03	$830,000.00	($0.91)	-8.75
Corning	$15.63 billion	9.16	$1.60 billion	$2.19	75.93

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

Summary

Corning beats Eltek on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eltek

Eltek Ltd. manufactures, markets, and sells printed circuit boards (PCBs) in Israel, Europe, North America, India, the Netherlands, and internationally. It offers a range of custom designed PCBs, including rigid, double-sided and multi-layer PCBs, and flexible circuitry boards. The company also provides high density interconnect, flex-rigid, and multi-layered boards. It primarily serves medical technology, defense and aerospace, industrial, telecom, and networking equipment industries, as well as contract electronic manufacturers. The company markets and sells its products primarily through direct sales personnel, sales representatives, and PCB trading and manufacturing companies. Eltek Ltd. was incorporated in 1970 and is headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel. Eltek Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Nistec Golan Ltd.

About Corning

Corning Incorporated engages in the display technologies, optical communications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's Display Technologies segment offers glass substrates for flat panel displays, including liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diodes that are used in televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, tablets, and handheld devices. Its Optical Communications segment provides optical fibers and cables; and hardware and equipment products, such as cable assemblies, fiber optic hardware and connectors, optical components and couplers, closures, network interface devices, and other accessories for the telecommunications industry, businesses, governments, and individuals. The company's Specialty Materials segment manufactures products that offer material formulations for glass, glass ceramics, crystals, precision metrology instruments, and software, as well as glass wafers and substrates, tinted sunglasses, and radiation shielding products for various markets comprising mobile consumer electronics, semiconductor equipment optics and consumables, aerospace and defense optics, radiation shielding products, sunglasses, and telecommunications components. Its Environmental Technologies segment provides ceramic substrates and filter products for emissions control in mobile, gasoline, and diesel applications. The company's Life Sciences segment offers laboratory products, including consumables, such as plastic vessels, liquid handling plastics, specialty surfaces, cell culture media, and serum, as well as general labware, and glassware and equipment under the Corning, Pyrex, Falcon, and Axygen brands. The company was formerly known as Corning Glass Works and changed its name to Corning Incorporated in April 1989. Corning Incorporated was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Corning, New York.