SoundThinking (NASDAQ:SSTI) and Cadre (NYSE:CDRE) Head-To-Head Contrast

Cadre (NYSE:CDRE) and SoundThinking (NASDAQ:SSTI) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Cadre and SoundThinking’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cadre	7.33%	13.94%	6.27%
SoundThinking	-10.44%	-14.57%	-7.91%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Cadre and SoundThinking, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cadre	1	0	4	1	2.83
SoundThinking	1	3	3	0	2.29

Cadre currently has a consensus price target of $37.67, suggesting a potential downside of 7.28%. SoundThinking has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 99.15%. Given SoundThinking’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SoundThinking is more favorable than Cadre.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

44.0% of Cadre shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.7% of SoundThinking shares are held by institutional investors. 31.5% of Cadre shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.4% of SoundThinking shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cadre and SoundThinking”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cadre	$567.56 million	2.91	$36.13 million	$1.12	36.27
SoundThinking	$102.03 million	0.88	-$9.18 million	($0.84)	-8.37

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

Risk & Volatility

Cadre has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SoundThinking has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cadre beats SoundThinking on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cadre

Cadre Holdings, Inc. manufactures and distributes safety that provides protection to users in hazardous or life-threatening situations in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Products and Distribution. It offers body armor product, such as concealable, corrections, and tactical armor under the Safariland and Protech Tactical brand names; survival suits, remotely operated vehicles, specialty tools, blast sensors, accessories, and vehicle blast attenuation seats for bomb safety technicians; bomb suits; duty gear, including belts and accessories; and other protective equipment comprising communications gear, forensic and investigation products, firearms cleaning solutions, and crowd control products. The company also offers third-party products, such as uniforms, optics, boots, firearms, and ammunition. It serves first responders, such as state and local law enforcement, fire and rescue, explosive ordnance disposal technicians, emergency medical technicians, fishing, and wildlife enforcement and departments of corrections, as well as federal agencies including the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Corrections, the Department of Energy, Los Alamos National Laboratories, Waste Isolation Plant, and various foreign government agencies. Cadre Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1964 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

About SoundThinking

SoundThinking, Inc., a public safety technology company that provides transformative solutions and strategic advisory services for law enforcement and civic leadership. Its SafetySmart Platform, an integrated suite of data-driven tools that enable law enforcement and community violence prevention and health organizations to be efficient in public safety outcomes. It offers ShotSpotter, an acoustic gunshot detection system; CrimeTracer, a law enforcement search engine; CaseBuilder, an investigation management system; and ResourceRouter, a software that directs patrol and community anti-violence resources to help maximize their impact. The company sells its solutions through its direct sales teams. The company was formerly known as ShotSpotter, Inc. and changed its name to SoundThinking, Inc. in April 2023. SoundThinking, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.