Analyzing Microwave Filter (OTCMKTS:MFCO) and LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH)

Microwave Filter (OTCMKTS:MFCO) and LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

56.3% of LightPath Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.9% of Microwave Filter shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.8% of LightPath Technologies shares are owned 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Microwave Filter and LightPath Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Microwave Filter	0	0	0	0	0.00
LightPath Technologies	1	1	4	1	2.71

LightPath Technologies has a consensus target price of $12.10, indicating a potential upside of 10.20%. Given LightPath Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe LightPath Technologies is more favorable than Microwave Filter.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Microwave Filter and LightPath Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Microwave Filter	$2.18 million	0.83	-$260,000.00	N/A	N/A
LightPath Technologies	$37.20 million	17.03	-$14.87 million	($0.52)	-21.12

Microwave Filter has higher earnings, but lower revenue than LightPath Technologies.

Volatility and Risk

Microwave Filter has a beta of 0.36, indicating that its stock price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LightPath Technologies has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Microwave Filter and LightPath Technologies’ 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
LightPath Technologies	-43.41%	-32.64%	-10.70%

Summary

LightPath Technologies beats Microwave Filter on 9 of the 13 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 LightPath Technologies

LightPath Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes optical components and assemblies. The company offers precision molded glass aspheric optics, molded and diamond-turned infrared aspheric lenses, and other optical components used to produce products that manipulate light; and infrared products, including catalog and custom infrared optics. Its products are used in defense products, medical devices, laser aided industrial tools, automotive safety applications, barcode scanners, optical data storage, hybrid fiber coax datacom, telecommunications, machine vision and sensors, and other sectors. The company sells its products directly to customers in Europe and Asia. LightPath Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.