Astronics (NASDAQ:ATRO) and Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) Financial Analysis

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) and Astronics (NASDAQ:ATRO) are both aerospace companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Rocket Lab and Astronics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rocket Lab	1	5	11	3	2.80
Astronics	1	1	2	2	2.83

Rocket Lab currently has a consensus target price of $97.19, suggesting a potential downside of 32.26%. Astronics has a consensus target price of $89.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.30%. Given Astronics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Astronics is more favorable than Rocket Lab.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Rocket Lab and Astronics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rocket Lab	$601.80 million	137.98	-$198.21 million	($0.32)	-448.38
Astronics	$862.13 million	3.62	$29.36 million	$1.18	73.73

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

Risk & Volatility

Rocket Lab has a beta of 2.3, suggesting that its stock price is 130% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Astronics has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.8% of Rocket Lab shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.7% of Astronics shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.4% of Rocket Lab shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.9% of Astronics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Rocket Lab and Astronics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rocket Lab	-26.87%	-11.72%	-7.82%
Astronics	5.12%	49.34%	12.10%

Summary

Astronics beats Rocket Lab on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab USA, Inc., a space company, provides launch services and space systems solutions for the space and defense industries. The company provides launch services, spacecraft design services, spacecraft components, spacecraft manufacturing, and other spacecraft and on-orbit management solutions; and constellation management services, as well as designs and manufactures small and medium-class rockets. It also designs, manufactures, and sells Electron, a reusable orbital-class small rocket; and the Photon satellite platforms, as well as developing the Neutron 8-ton payload class launch vehicle; conducts remote launch activities; and designs and manufactures a range of components and subsystems for the Photon family of spacecraft and broader merchant spacecraft components. The company serves commercial, aerospace prime contractors, and government customers. Rocket Lab USA, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.

About Astronics

Astronics Corporation, through its subsidiaries, designs and manufactures products for the aerospace, defense, and electronics industries in the United States, rest of North America, Asia, Europe, South America, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Test Systems. The Aerospace segment offers lighting and safety systems, electrical power generation systems, distribution and seat motions systems, aircraft structures, avionics products, system certification, and other products. This segment serves airframe manufacturers (OEM) that build aircraft for the commercial, military, and general aviation markets; suppliers to OEMs; and aircraft operators, such as airlines; suppliers to the aircraft operators; and branches of the U.S. Department of Defense. The Test Systems segment designs, develops, manufactures, and maintains automated test systems that support the aerospace and defense, and mass transit industries, as well as training and simulation devices for commercial and military applications. It serves OEMs and prime government contractors for electronics and military products. Astronics Corporation was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in East Aurora, New York.