Critical Survey: Oxford Instruments (OTCMKTS:OXINF) & Ideal Power (NASDAQ:IPWR)

Oxford Instruments (OTCMKTS:OXINF) and Ideal Power (NASDAQ:IPWR) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

16.4% of Ideal Power shares are held by institutional investors. 5.0% of Ideal Power shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Oxford Instruments has a beta of 0.81, suggesting that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ideal Power has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Oxford Instruments and Ideal Power”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oxford Instruments	$536.00 million	2.65	$70.63 million	N/A	N/A
Ideal Power	$142,107.00	404.80	-$9.95 million	($1.40)	-5.04

Oxford Instruments has higher revenue and earnings than Ideal Power.

Profitability

This table compares Oxford Instruments and Ideal Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oxford Instruments	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ideal Power	-7,152.45%	-55.69%	-49.80%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Oxford Instruments and Ideal Power, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oxford Instruments	0	0	0	1	4.00
Ideal Power	0	0	1	0	3.00

Ideal Power has a consensus price target of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 98.30%. Given Ideal Power’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ideal Power is more favorable than Oxford Instruments.

Summary

Oxford Instruments beats Ideal Power on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oxford Instruments

Oxford Instruments plc provide scientific technology products and services for academic and commercial organizations worldwide. It operates through three segments: Materials & Characterisation, Research & Discovery, and Service & Healthcare. The company offers atomic force, electron, and Raman microscopy; deposition tools comprising plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition, chemical vapour deposition, inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition, atomic layer deposition, and ion beam deposition systems; and etch tools, including inductively coupled plasma etching, reactive ion etching, deep silicon etching, atomic layer etching, and ion beam etching systems. It also provides low temperature systems, such as dilution refrigerators, high field magnets, and cryostats; optical imaging products, including cameras, confocal microscopy, and 3d and 4d visualisation software; nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) products comprising NMR spectrometers, TD-NMR research, QA/QC analyzers, and rock core analyzers; and X-Ray sources, tubes, and power supply products. Its products are used in various industries, such as advanced manufacturing, agriculture and food, astronomy, automotive and aerospace, bio imaging and life science, chemical and catalysis, energy generation and storage, forensics and environment, geology, petrology, mining, metals, alloys, composites, ceramics, pharma, photonics, polymers, quantum technologies, semiconductors, microelectronics, and data storage. Oxford Instruments plc was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Abingdon, the United Kingdom.

About Ideal Power

Ideal Power Inc. focuses on the development and commercialization of its bidirectional bipolar junction TRANsistor solid-state switch technology. It also offers SymCool Power Module designed to meet low conduction loss needs of the solid-state circuit breaker market. The company serves electric and hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging, renewable energy and energy storage system power converters, uninterruptible power supplies for data centers, industrial motor drives, solid-state circuit breakers, distribution and transmission switches and controls, and other industrial and military markets. The company was formerly known as Ideal Power Converters Inc. and changed its name to Ideal Power Inc. in July 2013. Ideal Power Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.