Head to Head Survey: Hurco Companies (NASDAQ:HURC) vs. GEA Group (OTCMKTS:GEAGF)

GEA Group (OTCMKTS:GEAGF) and Hurco Companies (NASDAQ:HURC) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for GEA Group and Hurco Companies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GEA Group	0	1	0	1	3.00
Hurco Companies	1	0	0	0	1.00

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares GEA Group and Hurco Companies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GEA Group	$6.22 billion	2.05	$468.41 million	$2.56	30.54
Hurco Companies	$183.24 million	0.75	-$15.12 million	($1.03)	-20.72

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

Volatility and Risk

GEA Group has a beta of 0.2, suggesting that its stock price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hurco Companies has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares GEA Group and Hurco Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GEA Group	7.70%	18.21%	7.52%
Hurco Companies	-3.58%	-3.37%	-2.51%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

74.4% of Hurco Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 9.9% of Hurco Companies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

GEA Group beats Hurco Companies on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GEA Group

GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft engages in the development and production of systems and components to the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries. It operates through Separation & Flow Technologies, Liquid & Power Technologies, Food & Health Technologies, Farm Technologies, and Heating & Refrigeration Technologies segments. The Separation & Flow Technologies segment manufacture process-related components and machinery including notably separators, decanters, homogenizers, valves, and pumps. The Liquid & Power Technologies segment offers brewing systems, liquid processing and filling, concentration, precision fermentation, crystallization, purification, drying, powder handling, and packaging, as well as systems for emission control for dairy, beverage, food, chemical, and other industries. The Food & Health Technologies segment engages in the preparation, marination, and processing of meat, poultry, seafood, and vegan products, pasta and confectionery products, baking, slicing, packaging, and frozen food processing for food processing industry; and provides tablet presses for pharmaceutical industry. The Farm Technologies segment offers customer solution for milk production and livestock farming, which includes automatic milking and feeding system, conventional milking solutions, manure handling, and digital herd management tool. The Heating & Refrigeration Technologies segment provides energy solution in the field of industrial refrigeration and heating for an array of industries including food, beverage, dairy, and oil and gas. The company was formerly known as mg technologies ag and changed its name to GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft in 2005. GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1881 and is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.

About Hurco Companies

Hurco Companies, Inc., an industrial technology company, designs, manufactures, and sells computerized machine tools to companies in the metal cutting industry worldwide. Its principal products include general-purpose computerized machine tools, including vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, and toolroom machines. The company also provides computer control systems and related software for press brake applications. In addition, it offers machine tool components, automation integration equipment, and solutions for job shops; and software options, control upgrades, and accessories and replacement parts for its products, as well as customer service, training, and applications support services. Further, the company provides Autobend computer control systems for press brake machines. It serves independent job shops and specialized short-run production applications within large manufacturing operations, as well as precision tool, die, and mold manufacturers in aerospace, defense, medical equipment, energy, automotive/transportation, electronics, and computer industries. The company sells its products under the Hurco, Milltronics, and Takumi brands through independent agents and distributors, as well as through its direct sales and service organizations. Hurco Companies, Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.