Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFA) vs. Timken (NYSE:TKR) Head to Head Review

Timken (NYSE:TKR) and Bel Fuse (NASDAQ:BELFA) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Timken and Bel Fuse, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Timken	0	7	4	0	2.36
Bel Fuse	0	1	1	1	3.00

Timken currently has a consensus price target of $83.70, indicating a potential downside of 10.59%. Bel Fuse has a consensus price target of $115.00, indicating a potential downside of 37.07%. Given Timken’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Timken is more favorable than Bel Fuse.

Dividends

Timken pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Bel Fuse pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Timken pays out 33.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Bel Fuse pays out 4.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Timken has increased its dividend for 12 consecutive years and Bel Fuse has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Timken is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

89.1% of Timken shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.0% of Bel Fuse shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.7% of Timken shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Bel Fuse shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Timken and Bel Fuse”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Timken	$4.57 billion	1.43	$352.70 million	$4.23	22.13
Bel Fuse	$534.79 million	4.33	$40.96 million	$4.93	37.06

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

Risk and Volatility

Timken has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bel Fuse has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Timken and Bel Fuse’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Timken	6.54%	11.88%	5.65%
Bel Fuse	10.04%	21.18%	8.77%

Summary

Bel Fuse beats Timken on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Timken

The Timken Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered bearings and industrial motion products, and related services in the United States and internationally. The company's Engineered Bearings segment provides various bearing products, including tapered, spherical, and cylindrical roller bearings; plain bearings, metal-polymer bearings, and rod end bearings; radial, angular, and precision ball bearings; thrust and specialty ball bearings; journal bearings; and housed or mounted bearings. This segment serves wind energy, agriculture, construction, food and beverage, metals and mining, automotive and truck, aerospace, rail, and other industries under the Timken, GGB, and Fafnir brands. Its Industrial Motion segment offers a portfolio of engineered products comprising industrial drives, automatic lubrication systems, linear motion products and systems, chains, belts, seals, couplings, filtration systems, and industrial clutches and brakes. It also provides industrial drivetrain and bearing repairing services. This segment serves a range of industries, such as solar energy, automation, construction, agriculture and turf, passenger rail, marine, aerospace, packaging and logistics, medical, and others under the Philadelphia Gear, Cone Drive, Rollon, Nadella, Groeneveld, BEKA, Diamond, Drives, Timken Belts, Spinea, Des-Case, Lagersmit, Lovejoy, and PT Tech brands. The Timken Company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in North Canton, Ohio.

About Bel Fuse

Bel Fuse Inc. designs, manufactures, markets, and sells products that power, protect, and connect electronic circuits. The company's products are used in the networking, telecommunications, computing, general industrial, high-speed data transmission, military, commercial aerospace, transportation, and e-Mobility industries. It provides power solutions and protection products, including front-end power supplies, board-mount power products, industrial and transportation power products, external power products, and circuit protection products. The company also offers connectivity solutions, such as expanded beam fiber optic connectors, cable assemblies, and active optical devices; copper-based connectors/cable assemblies; radio frequency connectors, cable assemblies, microwave devices, and low loss cables; and ethernet, I/O, and industrial and power connectivity products. In addition, it provides magnetic solutions comprising integrated connector modules, power transformers, SMD power inductors and SMPS transformers, and ethernet discrete components. The company sells its products through direct strategic account managers, regional sales managers working with independent sales representative organizations, and authorized distributors in the United States, the People's Republic of China, Macao, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Germany, India, Switzerland, and internationally. Bel Fuse Inc. was incorporated in 1949 and is headquartered in West Orange, New Jersey.