FEI (NASDAQ: FEIC) and Canon (NYSE:CAJ) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitabiliy and analyst recommendations.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares FEI and Canon’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| FEI | N/A | N/A | N/A | $2.58 | 41.43 |
| Canon | $33.14 billion | 1.14 | $4.86 billion | $1.50 | 23.19 |
Canon has higher revenue and earnings than FEI. Canon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FEI, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
FEI pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Canon pays an annual dividend of $1.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. FEI pays out 46.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Canon pays out 78.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Profitability
This table compares FEI and Canon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| FEI | 9.62% | 9.62% | 6.97% |
| Canon | 5.17% | 6.48% | 3.84% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for FEI and Canon, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| FEI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Canon | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.33 |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
97.7% of FEI shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.5% of Canon shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of FEI shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Risk and Volatility
FEI has a beta of 1.41, indicating that its share price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canon has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
FEI beats Canon on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.
About FEI
FEI Company is a supplier of scientific instruments and related services for nanoscale applications and solutions for industry and science. The Company operates through two segments: Industry Group, which consists of customers in semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturing and related industries, such as manufacturers of data storage equipment and other technologies, as well as customers in the oil and gas industry, and Science Group, which includes universities, research laboratories and customers in a range of industries, including metals, automobiles, aerospace, geosciences and forensics. It designs, manufactures and supports the range of microscopy workflows. Its products include transmission electron microscopes (TEMs), which offer an integrated and automated operation; scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), which are used for inspecting topographies of materials; DualBeam systems, which provide solution for three-dimensional microscopy and analysis, and focused ion beam (FIB).
About Canon
Canon Inc. (Canon) is a manufacturer of office multifunction devices (MFDs), plain paper copying machines, laser printers, inkjet printers, cameras and lithography equipment. Canon sells its products principally under the Canon brand name and through sales subsidiaries. Each of these subsidiaries is responsible for marketing and distribution to retail dealers in an assigned territory. Canon operates its business in three segments: the Office Business Unit, the Imaging System Business Unit, and the Industry and Others Business Unit. Canon’s research and development activities range from basic research to product-oriented research directed at maintaining Canon’s technological operations in the marketplace. Canon has manufacturing subsidiaries in a range of countries, including the United States, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
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