Critical Analysis: Cemtrex (NASDAQ:CETX) & Identiv (NASDAQ:INVE)

Identiv (NASDAQ:INVE) and Cemtrex (NASDAQ:CETX) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Identiv and Cemtrex’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Identiv	-62.93%	-11.02%	-10.34%
Cemtrex	-38.59%	-129.15%	-45.98%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Identiv and Cemtrex”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Identiv	$21.48 million	3.11	-$18.00 million	($0.66)	-4.18
Cemtrex	$76.49 million	0.04	-$28.11 million	($81.19)	-0.03

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

Volatility and Risk

Identiv has a beta of 1.24, indicating that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cemtrex has a beta of 2.11, indicating that its share price is 111% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Identiv and Cemtrex, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Identiv	1	2	0	0	1.67
Cemtrex	1	0	0	0	1.00

Identiv currently has a consensus target price of $3.40, indicating a potential upside of 23.19%. Given Identiv’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Identiv is more favorable than Cemtrex.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

65.2% of Identiv shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of Cemtrex shares are held by institutional investors. 3.6% of Identiv shares are held by 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.

Summary

Identiv beats Cemtrex on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Identiv

Identiv, Inc., a security technology company, that provides secure identification and physical security solutions that secure things, data, and physical places worldwide. It operates in two segments, Identity and Premises. The Identity segment offers products and solutions that enables secure access to information serving the logical access and cyber security markets, as well as protecting connected objects and information using radio-frequency identification embedded security. The Premises segment provides solutions for premises security market, such as access control, video surveillance, analytics, audio, access readers, and identities to government facilities, schools, utilities, hospitals, stores, and apartment buildings. The company sells its products through dealers, systems integrators, value added resellers, and resellers. The company was formerly known as Identive Group, Inc. and changed its name to Identiv, Inc. in May 2014. Identiv, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

About Cemtrex

Cemtrex, Inc. engages in the provision of solutions in the technology industry. It operates through the following segments: Security, Industrial Services, and Cemtrex Corporate. The Security segment provides end-to-end security solutions to meet corporate, industrial, and governmental security challenges. The Industrial Services segment offers single-source expertise and services for rigging, millwrighting, in plant maintenance, equipment erection, relocation, and disassembly to diversified customers. The Cemtrex Corporate segment refers to the holding company of the other two segments. The company was founded on April 27, 1998 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, NY.