Financial Comparison: Broadwind Energy (NASDAQ:BWEN) & Gates Industrial (NYSE:GTES)

Gates Industrial (NYSE:GTES) and Broadwind Energy (NASDAQ:BWEN) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Gates Industrial and Broadwind Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gates Industrial	0	6	6	0	2.50
Broadwind Energy	0	2	2	0	2.50

Gates Industrial presently has a consensus target price of $27.09, indicating a potential upside of 5.81%. Broadwind Energy has a consensus target price of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 38.04%. Given Broadwind Energy’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Broadwind Energy is more favorable than Gates Industrial.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.5% of Gates Industrial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.3% of Broadwind Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Gates Industrial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of Broadwind Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Gates Industrial has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Broadwind Energy has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Gates Industrial and Broadwind Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Gates Industrial	$3.41 billion	1.94	$194.90 million	$0.91	28.14
Broadwind Energy	$143.14 million	0.53	$1.15 million	$0.22	14.82

Gates Industrial has higher revenue and earnings than Broadwind Energy. Broadwind Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Gates Industrial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Gates Industrial and Broadwind Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gates Industrial	6.93%	10.38%	5.22%
Broadwind Energy	3.37%	-2.05%	-0.99%

Summary

Gates Industrial beats Broadwind Energy on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Gates Industrial

Gates Industrial Corporation PLC designs and manufactures power transmission equipment. Its products serves harsh and hazardous industries such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing and energy, to everyday consumer applications such as printers, power washers, automatic doors and vacuum cleaners and virtually every form of transportation.

About Broadwind Energy

Broadwind, Inc. manufactures and sells structures, equipment, and components for clean tech and other specialized applications primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: Heavy Fabrications, Gearing, and Industrial Solutions. The Heavy Fabrications segment provides fabrications to various industrial markets. It offers steel towers and adapters primarily to wind turbine manufacturers. Its Gearing segment provides gearing, gearboxes, and precision machined components to a range of customers in diverse markets, including surface and underground mining, wind energy, steel, material handling, infrastructure, onshore and offshore oil and gas fracking and drilling, marine, and other industrial markets. This segment also offers heat treat services for aftermarket and original equipment manufacturer applications. The Industrial Solutions segment provides supply chain solutions for offering instrumentation and controls, valve assemblies, sensor devices, fuel system components, electrical junction boxes and wiring, energy storage services, and electromechanical devices; light fabrication, inventory management, and kitting and assembly services; packaging solutions; and supply chain solutions, light fabrication, inventory management, and kitting and assembly services for combined cycle natural gas turbine market. It sells its products to the energy, mining, and infrastructure sectors through its direct sales force and independent sales agents. The company was formerly known as Broadwind Energy, Inc. and changed its name to Broadwind, Inc. in May 2020. Broadwind, Inc. is headquartered in Cicero, Illinois.