Knightscope (NASDAQ:KSCP) vs. Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) Financial Analysis

Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT) and Knightscope (NASDAQ:KSCP) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Crane NXT and Knightscope”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crane NXT	$1.49 billion	2.12	$184.10 million	$2.68	20.49
Knightscope	$10.81 million	3.98	-$31.73 million	($3.94)	-0.98

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

Profitability

This table compares Crane NXT and Knightscope’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crane NXT	9.80%	20.24%	8.67%
Knightscope	-256.09%	-156.57%	-92.71%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Crane NXT and Knightscope, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crane NXT	0	4	3	1	2.63
Knightscope	1	0	3	0	2.50

Crane NXT presently has a consensus price target of $75.80, indicating a potential upside of 38.05%. Knightscope has a consensus price target of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 289.61%. Given Knightscope’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Knightscope is more favorable than Crane NXT.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

77.5% of Crane NXT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.6% of Knightscope shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Crane NXT shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Knightscope shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Crane NXT has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Knightscope has a beta of 1.73, indicating that its share price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Crane NXT beats Knightscope on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Crane NXT

Crane NXT, Co. operates as an industrial technology company that provides technology solutions to secure, detect, and authenticate customers’ important assets. The company operates through Crane Payment Innovations and Crane Currency segments. The Crane Payment Innovations segment offers electronic equipment and associated software, as well as advanced automation solutions, processing systems, field service solutions, remote diagnostics, and productivity software solutions. The Crane Currency segment provides advanced security solutions based on proprietary technology for securing physical products, including banknotes, consumer goods, and industrial products. Crane NXT, Co. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About Knightscope

Knightscope, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, markets, deploys, and supports autonomous security robots (ASR) in the United States. Its products include K3 and K5 ASRs designed to roam a geo-fenced area autonomously by utilizing numerous sensors and lasers, either on a random basis or based on a particular patrolling algorithm to navigate around people, vehicles, and objects in dynamic indoor or outdoor environments; K1, an ASR for used in indoors or outdoors and at ingress/egress points for both people and vehicles; and K7, a multi-terrain ASR. The company also develops and operates the Knightscope security operations center (KSOC), a browser-based interface, which allows real-time data access service to its clients for alert of an abnormal event; and Knightscope network operations center (KNOC), a custom set of tools that enables it to manage and monitor the network of ASRs with alerts related to critical indicators and statistics, including charging, software, navigation, and temperatures, as well as to execute over-the-air software upgrades, patches, and other related items. In addition, it offers Knightscope+, a virtual monitoring and response solution that provides an alternative for client sites. The company serves airports, commercial real estate, corporate campus, homeowner associations, hotels, universities, municipalities, rail, healthcare, public parks, schools, casinos, corporations, logistics, manufacturing, law enforcement, Parking areas, municipalities, universities, and property management companies, as well as the U.S. federal government. Knightscope, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.