Head-To-Head Analysis: Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) vs. Microwave Filter (OTCMKTS:MFCO)

Microwave Filter (OTCMKTS:MFCO) and Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Microwave Filter and Juniper Networks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Microwave Filter	N/A	N/A	N/A
Juniper Networks	4.58%	8.02%	3.78%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Microwave Filter and Juniper Networks, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Microwave Filter	0	0	0	0	N/A
Juniper Networks	0	8	1	0	2.11

Juniper Networks has a consensus price target of $37.63, suggesting a potential downside of 3.94%. Given Juniper Networks’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Juniper Networks is more favorable than Microwave Filter.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.9% of Juniper Networks shares are held by institutional investors. 6.9% of Microwave Filter shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Juniper Networks shares are held 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.

Volatility and Risk

Microwave Filter has a beta of 0.37, indicating that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Juniper Networks has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Microwave Filter and Juniper Networks”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Microwave Filter	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Juniper Networks	$5.10 billion	2.50	$310.20 million	$0.69	56.77

Juniper Networks has higher revenue and earnings than Microwave Filter.

Summary

Juniper Networks beats Microwave Filter on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Microwave Filter

Microwave Filter Company, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electronic filters for radio and microwave frequencies primarily in the United States. It manufactures RF filters and related components for eliminating interference and facilitating signal processing for cable television, broadcast, commercial and military communications, avionics, radar, navigation, and defense markets. The company also designs waveguide, stripline/microstrip, transmission line, miniature/subminiature, and lumped constant filters. Its configurations include bandpass, highpass, lowpass, bandstop, multiplexers, tunable notch, tunable bandpass, high power filters, amplitude equalized, delay equalized, and filter networks. The company serves 5G, cable television, television and radio broadcast, satellite broadcast, mobile radio, commercial, and aerospace and defense electronics markets. Microwave Filter Company, Inc. was incorporated in 1967 and is based in East Syracuse, New York.

About Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks, Inc. designs, develops, and sells network products and services worldwide. The company offers routing products, such as ACX series universal access routers to deploy high-bandwidth services; MX series Ethernet routers that function as a universal edge platform; PTX series packet transport routers; wide-area network SDN controllers; and session smart routers. It also provides switching products, including EX series Ethernet switches to address the access, aggregation, and core layer switching requirements of micro branch, branch office, and campus environments; QFX series of core, spine, and top-of-rack data center switches; and juniper access points, which provide Wi-Fi access and performance. In addition, the company offers security products comprising SRX series services gateways for the data center; Branch SRX family provides an integrated and next-generation firewall; virtual firewall that delivers various features of physical firewalls; and advanced malware protection, a cloud-based service and Juniper ATP. Further, it offers Junos OS, a network operating system; Contrail networking, which provides an open-source and standards-based platform for SDN; Mist AI-driven Wired, Wireless, and WAN assurance solutions to set and measure key metrics; Mist AI-driven Marvis Virtual Network Assistant, which identifies the root cause of issues; Juniper Paragon Automation, a modular portfolio of cloud-native software applications; and Juniper Apstra to automate the network lifecycle in a single system. Additionally, the company provides software-as-a-service, technical support, maintenance, and professional services, as well as education and training programs. It sells its products through direct sales, distributors, value-added resellers, and original equipment manufacturers to end-users in the cloud, service provider, and enterprise markets. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.