Critical Comparison: Sierra Monitor (OTCMKTS:SRMC) & Knowles (NYSE:KN)

Knowles (NYSE:KN) and Sierra Monitor (OTCMKTS:SRMC) are both technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Knowles has a beta of 1.6, suggesting that its share price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sierra Monitor has a beta of 0.03, suggesting that its share price is 97% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Knowles and Sierra Monitor, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Knowles	0	2	2	1	2.80
Sierra Monitor	0	0	0	0	0.00

Knowles presently has a consensus price target of $40.67, indicating a potential upside of 5.08%. Given Knowles’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Knowles is more favorable than Sierra Monitor.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.3% of Knowles shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Knowles shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 45.5% of Sierra Monitor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Knowles and Sierra Monitor”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Knowles	$593.20 million	5.57	$44.20 million	$0.77	50.26
Sierra Monitor	$22.08 million	1.52	$170,000.00	N/A	N/A

Knowles has higher revenue and earnings than Sierra Monitor.

Profitability

This table compares Knowles and Sierra Monitor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Knowles	10.63%	11.45%	8.33%
Sierra Monitor	0.76%	2.89%	2.33%

Summary

Knowles beats Sierra Monitor on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Knowles

Knowles Corporation offers capacitors, radio frequency (RF) filtering products, balanced armature speakers, micro-acoustic microphones, and audio solutions in Asia, the United States, Europe, other Americas, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Precision Devices (PD); Medtech & Specialty Audio (MSA); and Consumer MEMS Microphones (CMM). The PD segment designs and delivers film, electrolytic, and mica capacitor products for use in power supplies and medical implants; electromagnetic interference filters; and RF filtering solutions for use in satellite communications and radar systems for defense applications. The MSA segment designs and manufactures balanced armature speakers and microphones for the hearing health, audio, and True Wireless Stereo (TWS) markets. The CMM segment designs and manufactures micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) microphones and audio solutions used in applications that serve the ear, mobile, TWS, Internet of Things, computing, and smartphones markets. The company serves the defense, medtech, electric vehicle, industrial, communications, and consumer electronics markets through original equipment manufacturers, their contract manufacturers, suppliers, sales representatives, and distributors. Knowles Corporation was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois.

About Sierra Monitor

Sierra Monitor Corporation provides industrial Internet of things solutions that connect and protect infrastructure assets to the industrial and commercial facilities management market in the United States and internationally. It offers FieldServer family of protocol gateways, routers, and network explorers for system integrators and original equipment manufacturers to enable local and remote monitoring and control of assets and facilities; and Sentry IT flame and gas detection solutions used by industrial and commercial facilities managers to protect their personnel and assets. The company sells its solutions to telecommunication companies and their suppliers. Sierra Monitor Corporation was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Milpitas, California.