Head to Head Review: American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC) vs. Electrovaya (NASDAQ:ELVA)

Electrovaya (NASDAQ:ELVA) and American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

22.5% of Electrovaya shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.3% of American Superconductor shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.6% of American Superconductor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Electrovaya and American Superconductor”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Electrovaya	$63.83 million	4.01	$3.36 million	$0.11	46.54
American Superconductor	$299.15 million	3.97	$133.81 million	$3.03	8.10

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Electrovaya and American Superconductor, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Electrovaya	0	2	3	1	2.83
American Superconductor	0	2	2	1	2.80

Electrovaya presently has a consensus price target of $17.50, suggesting a potential upside of 241.86%. American Superconductor has a consensus price target of $55.00, suggesting a potential upside of 124.12%. Given Electrovaya’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Electrovaya is more favorable than American Superconductor.

Volatility and Risk

Electrovaya has a beta of 1.64, indicating that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Superconductor has a beta of 3.32, indicating that its share price is 232% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Electrovaya and American Superconductor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Electrovaya	6.14%	7.96%	4.54%
American Superconductor	42.56%	27.41%	20.63%

Summary

American Superconductor beats Electrovaya on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Electrovaya

Electrovaya Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of lithium-ion batteries, battery management systems, and battery-related products for energy storage, clean electric transportation, and other specialized applications in North America. It offers lithium-ion batteries and systems for materials handling electric vehicles, including forklifts and automated guided vehicles, as well as battery chargers to charge the batteries; electromotive power products for electric trucks, electric buses, and other transportation applications; industrial products for energy storage; and power solutions, such as competencies in building systems for third parties. The company was formerly known as Electrofuel Inc. and changed its name to Electrovaya Inc. in March 2002. Electrovaya Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada.

About American Superconductor

American Superconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides megawatt-scale power resiliency solutions worldwide. The company operates through Grid and Wind segments. The Grid segment offers products and services that enable electric utilities, industrial facilities, and renewable energy project developers to connect, transmit, and distribute power under the Gridtec Solutions brand. It provides transmission planning services, which identify power grid congestion, poor power quality, and other risks; grid interconnection solutions for wind farms and solar power plants, power quality systems, and transmission and distribution cable systems; D-VAR systems used for controlling power flow and voltage in the AC transmission system; actiVAR system, a fast-switching medium-voltage reactive compensation solution; armorVAR system installed for reactive compensation, power factor correction, loss reduction, utility bill savings, and mitigation of common power quality concerns related to power converter-based generation and load devices; and D-VAR volt var optimization (VVO) that serves the distribution power grid market. This segment also offers ship protection systems, which reduce a naval ship’s magnetic signature; and ON board power delivery systems, power generation systems, and propulsion systems; and transformers and rectifiers systems. The Wind segment designs wind turbine systems and licenses these designs to third parties under the Windtec Solutions brand. It also supplies power electronics and software-based control systems, engineered designs, and support services; and provides customer support services to wind turbine manufacturers. This segment’s design portfolio comprises a range of drivetrains and power ratings of 2 megawatts and higher. American Superconductor Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Ayer, Massachusetts.