Head to Head Comparison: Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) and Lantronix (NASDAQ:LTRX)

Lantronix (NASDAQ:LTRX) and Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

39.4% of Lantronix shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.8% of Ituran Location and Control shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of Lantronix shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Ituran Location and Control shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lantronix and Ituran Location and Control”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lantronix	$120.90 million	2.41	-$4.18 million	($0.11)	-56.64
Ituran Location and Control	$359.02 million	2.91	$57.97 million	$3.24	16.23

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

Risk & Volatility

Lantronix has a beta of 1.66, suggesting that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ituran Location and Control has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Lantronix and Ituran Location and Control, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lantronix	1	0	6	0	2.71
Ituran Location and Control	0	1	4	0	2.80

Lantronix presently has a consensus price target of $10.80, suggesting a potential upside of 73.35%. Ituran Location and Control has a consensus price target of $60.67, suggesting a potential upside of 15.35%. Given Lantronix’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Lantronix is more favorable than Ituran Location and Control.

Profitability

This table compares Lantronix and Ituran Location and Control’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lantronix	-3.46%	-4.88%	-3.21%
Ituran Location and Control	16.28%	29.03%	16.29%

Summary

Ituran Location and Control beats Lantronix on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lantronix

Lantronix, Inc. provides solutions for video surveillance, infotainment systems, and intelligent substations infrastructure in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific Japan. The company's IoT products include IoT System Solutions, which provide wired and wireless connections that enhance the value and utility of modern electronic systems and equipment through secure network connectivity, power for IoT end devices through Power over Ethernet, application hosting, protocol conversion, media conversion, secure access for distributed IoT deployments, and various other functions; Embedded IoT Modules, such as application processing delivering compute to meet customer needs for data transformation, computer vision, machine learning, augmented/virtual reality, audio/video aggregation and distribution, and custom applications; and Software and Engineering Services offers SaaS platform that enables customers to deploy, monitor, manage, and automate across their global deployments through a single platform login. It also offers telematics devices, which provides power efficient products designed to support communications across interfaces and industrial protocols for vehicle, fleet, and asset tracking and management; network switches, media converters, power over ethernet, NICS and optical SFPs, system on modules, and development kits; and services for mechanical, hardware, and software engineering for camera, audio, and artificial intelligence/machine learning development. In addition, the company provides console management, power management, and IP connected keyboard-video-mouse products that offers remote access to IT and networking infrastructure deployed in test labs, data centers, branch offices, remote sites, and server rooms; and hardware engineering, software engineering, and mechanical engineering, rapid prototyping and quality assurance engineering services. Lantronix, Inc. was incorporated in 1989 and is based in Irvine, California.

About Ituran Location and Control

Ituran Location and Control Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides location based telematics services and machine-to-machine telematics products. It operates through two segments, Telematics Services and Telematics Products. The Telematics services segment offers stolen vehicle recovery and tracking services, which enables to locate, track, and recover stolen vehicles for its subscribers; fleet management services that enable corporate and individual customers to track and manage their vehicles in real time; and locator services that allow customers to protect valuable merchandise and equipment. This segment also delivers on-demand navigation guidance, information, and assistance, including the provision of traffic reports and directions, as well as information on the location of gas stations, car repair shops, post offices, hospitals, and other facilities; and Connected Car, a service platform that includes a back-office application, a telematics device installed in the vehicle, mobile apps for IOS and Android users, and interface using the car infotainment screen, as well as usage based insurance and auto financing services. This segment serves insurance companies and agents, car manufacturers, dealers and importers, cooperative sales channels, and private subscribers. The Telematics Products segment offers Base Site, a radio receiver that includes a processor and a data computation unit to collect and send data to and from transponders, and to control centers; Control Center, a center consisting of software used to collect data from various base sites, conduct location calculations, and transmit location data to various customers and law enforcement agencies; navigation and tracking devices installed in vehicles; and SMART, a portable transmitter installed in vehicles that sends a signal to the base site enabling the location of vehicles, equipment, or an individual. The company was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Azor, Israel.