Comparing Seiko Epson (OTCMKTS:SEKEY) & Samsung Electronics (OTCMKTS:SSNLF)

Seiko Epson (OTCMKTS:SEKEY) and Samsung Electronics (OTCMKTS:SSNLF) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Seiko Epson and Samsung Electronics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Seiko Epson	0	1	0	0	2.00
Samsung Electronics	0	2	0	1	2.67

Profitability

This table compares Seiko Epson and Samsung Electronics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Seiko Epson	1.71%	2.97%	1.66%
Samsung Electronics	9.12%	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Samsung Electronics shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Seiko Epson and Samsung Electronics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Seiko Epson	$9.39 billion	0.83	$113.84 million	$0.26	39.88
Samsung Electronics	$197.69 billion	0.09	$18.45 billion	$2.68	52.24

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

Volatility and Risk

Seiko Epson has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Samsung Electronics has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Samsung Electronics beats Seiko Epson on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Seiko Epson

Seiko Epson Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and provides services for products in the printing solutions, visual communications, manufacturing-related and wearables, and other businesses. It operates through three segments: Printing Solutions, Visual Communications, and Manufacturing-related and Wearables segments. The Printing Solutions segment offers home and office inkjet printers, serial impact dot matrix printers, page printers, color image scanners, dry process office papermaking systems, commercial and industrial inkjet printers, inkjet printheads, printers for use in POS systems, label printers, printer consumables, and others. The Visual Communications segment provides 3LCD projectors for business, education, the home, and event; smart glasses; and others. The Manufacturing-related and Wearables segment offers wristwatches, watch movements, and others; factory automation products, industrial robots, compact injection molders, and other production systems; and crystal units, crystal oscillators, quartz sensors, and others for consumer, automotive, and industrial equipment applications. This segment also provides CMOS LSIs and other chips primarily for consumer electronics and automotive applications; and metal powders for use as raw materials in the production of electronic components, etc., as well as value-added surface finishing in a range of industrial fields. The company also sells PCs, etc. It has operations in Japan, the Philippines, the United States, Indonesia, China, and internationally. Seiko Epson Corporation was incorporated in 1942 and is headquartered in Suwa, Japan.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. engages in the consumer electronics, information technology and mobile communications, and device solutions businesses worldwide. The company offers smartphones, tablets, watches, and accessories; TVs, projectors, and sound devices; home appliances, including refrigerators, washing machines and dryers, vacuum cleaners, cooking appliances, dishwashers, air conditioners, and air purifiers; monitors and memory storage products; displays, and smart and LED signages; and other accessories. It also engages in venture capital investments, cloud services, network devices installation, semiconductor equipment maintenance services, digital advertising platforms, marketing, consulting, connected services, logistics, financing, and software design activities; toll processing of display panels and semiconductors; development and sale of network solutions; manufactures semiconductors and food; provision of repair services for electronic devices; and development and supply of semiconductor process defect and quality control software, as well as digital televisions, foundry, system large scale integration, connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions, and connected services. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 1969 and is based in Suwon, South Korea.