Head-To-Head Comparison: Ducommun (NYSE:DCO) vs. Saab (OTCMKTS:SAABY)

Saab (OTCMKTS:SAABY) and Ducommun (NYSE:DCO) are both aerospace companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Saab has a beta of -0.19, indicating that its share price is 119% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ducommun has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Saab and Ducommun, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Saab	2	1	0	1	2.00
Ducommun	0	2	5	0	2.71

Ducommun has a consensus target price of $113.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.81%. Given Ducommun’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ducommun is more favorable than Saab.

Profitability

This table compares Saab and Ducommun’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Saab	7.17%	13.23%	4.94%
Ducommun	-4.29%	7.70%	4.53%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.2% of Ducommun shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.9% of Ducommun shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Saab	$6.03 billion	6.99	$394.58 million	$0.62	63.47
Ducommun	$806.22 million	2.06	$31.50 million	($2.34)	-47.43

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

Summary

Saab beats Ducommun on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Saab

Saab AB (publ) provides products, services, and solutions for military defense, aviation, and civil security markets worldwide. The company operates through Aeronautics, Dynamics, Surveillance, Kockums, and Combitech segments. The company develops military aviation technology, as well as conducts studies on manned and unmanned aircraft. It also provides ground combat weapons, missile systems, torpedoes, unmanned underwater vehicles, training and simulation systems, and signature management systems for armed forces; and niche products for the civil and defense market, such as underwater vehicles for the offshore industry. In addition, the company offers solutions for safety and security, surveillance and decision support, and threat detection, location, and protection, including airborne, ground-based and naval radar, electronic warfare, and combat systems, as well as C4I solutions. Additionally, it provides submarines with the Stirling system for air independent propulsion, surface combatants, mine hunting systems, and autonomous vessels; and systems development, systems integration, information security, systems security, communications, mechanics, and technical product information and logistics. Saab AB (publ) was incorporated in 1937 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

About Ducommun

Ducommun Incorporated provides engineering and manufacturing services for products and applications used primarily in the aerospace and defense, industrial, medical, and other industries in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Electronic Systems and Structural Systems. The Electronic Systems segment provides cable assemblies and interconnect systems; printed circuit board assemblies; electronic, electromechanical, and mechanical components and assemblies, as well as lightning diversion systems; and radar enclosures, aircraft avionics racks, shipboard communications and control enclosures, printed circuit board assemblies, cable assemblies, wire harnesses, interconnect systems, lightning diversion strips, surge suppressors, conformal shields, and other assemblies. The segment also supplies engineered products, including illuminated pushbutton switches and panels for aviation and test systems; microwave and millimeter switches and filters for radio frequency systems and test instrumentation; and motors and resolvers for motion control. In addition, this segment provides engineering expertise for aerospace system design, development, integration, and testing. The Structural Systems segment designs, engineers, and manufactures contoured aluminum, titanium, and Inconel aero structure components; structural assembly products, such as winglets, engine components, and fuselage structural panels; aerodynamic systems; and metal and composite bonded structures and assemblies comprising aircraft wing spoilers, large fuselage skins, rotor blades on rotary-wing aircraft and components, flight control surfaces, engine components, ammunition handling systems, and magnetic seals. It serves commercial aircraft, military fixed-wing aircraft, military and commercial rotary-wing aircraft, and space programs, as well as industrial, medical, and other end-use markets. The company was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in Santa Ana, California.