Analyzing Teledyne Technologies (NYSE:TDY) and AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV)

AeroVironment (NASDAQ:AVAV) and Teledyne Technologies (NYSE:TDY) are both aerospace companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares AeroVironment and Teledyne Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AeroVironment	-9.00%	3.71%	2.90%
Teledyne Technologies	14.99%	10.24%	7.05%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

86.4% of AeroVironment shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Teledyne Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of AeroVironment shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Teledyne Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for AeroVironment and Teledyne Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AeroVironment	1	3	18	2	2.88
Teledyne Technologies	0	3	4	1	2.75

AeroVironment presently has a consensus price target of $266.68, indicating a potential upside of 88.07%. Teledyne Technologies has a consensus price target of $694.14, indicating a potential upside of 11.26%. Given AeroVironment’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AeroVironment is more favorable than Teledyne Technologies.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AeroVironment and Teledyne Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AeroVironment	$1.98 billion	3.63	-$265.12 million	($3.68)	-38.53
Teledyne Technologies	$6.12 billion	4.73	$894.80 million	$19.77	31.56

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

Risk and Volatility

AeroVironment has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Teledyne Technologies has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Teledyne Technologies beats AeroVironment on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AeroVironment

AeroVironment, Inc. designs, develops, produces, delivers, and supports a portfolio of robotic systems and related services for government agencies and businesses in the United States and internationally. It operates through Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS), Tactical Missile System (TMS), Medium Unmanned Aircraft Systems (MUAS), and High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite Systems (HAPS) segments. The company supplies UAS, TMS, unmanned ground vehicle, and related services primarily to organizations within the U.S. Department of Defense, other federal agencies, and to international allied governments. It also designs, engineers, tools, and manufactures unmanned aerial and aircraft systems, including airborne platforms, payloads and payload integration, ground control systems, and ground support equipment and other items and services related to unmanned aircraft systems. In addition, the company offers small UAS products, including training, spare parts, product repair, product replacement, and the customer contracted operation. Further, it develops high-altitude pseudo-satellite UAS systems. AeroVironment, Inc. was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

About Teledyne Technologies

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, together with its subsidiaries, provides enabling technologies for industrial growth markets in the United States and internationally. Its Digital Imaging segment provides visible spectrum sensors and digital cameras; and infrared, ultraviolet, visible, and X-ray spectra; as well as micro electromechanical systems and semiconductors, including analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. This segment also offers cooled and uncooled infrared or thermal products, including sensors, camera cores, and camera systems; high-resolution, low-dose X-ray sensors, high-power microwave, and high-energy X-ray subsystems; and instruments for the measurement of physical properties and maritime products; as well as develops and manufactures multi-spectrum electro-optic/infrared imaging systems and associated products, such as lasers, optics, and radars, CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive detectors), and unmanned air and ground systems. The company's Instrumentation segment offers monitoring, control, and electronic test and measurement equipment; and power and communications connectivity devices for distributed instrumentation systems and sensor networks. The company's Aerospace and Defense Electronics segment provides electronic components and subsystems, data acquisition and communications components and equipment, harsh environment interconnects, general aviation batteries, and other components; and onboard avionics systems and ground-based applications, aircraft data and connectivity solutions, hardware systems, and software applications. Its Engineered Systems segment offers systems engineering and integration, technology development, and manufacturing solutions for defense, space, environmental, and energy applications; and designs and manufactures electrochemical energy systems and electronics for military applications. The company was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.