Critical Survey: Astrotech (ASTC) and The Competition

Astrotech (NASDAQ:ASTC) is one of 377 public companies in the “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Astrotech to related companies based on the strength of its dividends, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Astrotech and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrotech	1	0	0	0	1.00
Astrotech Competitors	2047	7599	10424	660	2.47

As a group, “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies have a potential upside of 35.72%. Given Astrotech’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Astrotech has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Astrotech and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrotech	-1,578.34%	-91.69%	-72.48%
Astrotech Competitors	-158.14%	-25.87%	-6.85%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

24.4% of Astrotech shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.5% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by institutional investors. 16.4% of Astrotech shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.2% of shares of all “Electronic Equipment, Instruments & Components” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Astrotech and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrotech	$910,000.00	-$14.43 million	-0.55
Astrotech Competitors	$4.00 billion	$172.92 million	5.37

Astrotech’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Astrotech. Astrotech is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

Astrotech has a beta of 5.24, meaning that its share price is 424% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Astrotech’s peers have a beta of -0.18, meaning that their average share price is 118% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Astrotech peers beat Astrotech on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

About Astrotech

Astrotech Corporation operates as a mass spectrometry company worldwide. It owns and licenses the intellectual property related to the Astrotech Mass Spectrometer Technology, a platform mass spectrometry technology. The company also develops TRACER 1000, a mass spectrometer-based explosive trace detector to replace the explosives trace detectors used at airports, cargo and other secured facilities, and borders. In addition, it develops AgLAB-1000, a mass spectrometer for use in the hemp and cannabis market. Further, the company develops BreathTest-1000, a breath analysis tool to screen for volatile organic compound metabolites found in a person's breath. The company was formerly known as SPACEHAB, Inc. and changed its name to Astrotech Corporation in 2009. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is based in Austin, Texas.