Comparing Highway (NASDAQ:HIHO) & Nauticus Robotics (NASDAQ:KITT)
by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets DailyHighway (NASDAQ:HIHO – Get Free Report) and Nauticus Robotics (NASDAQ:KITT – Get Free Report) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.
Volatility & Risk
Highway has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nauticus Robotics has a beta of -0.14, suggesting that its share price is 114% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Highway and Nauticus Robotics, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Highway | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Nauticus Robotics | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
13.2% of Highway shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.5% of Nauticus Robotics shares are held by institutional investors. 32.1% of Highway shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.3% of Nauticus Robotics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Highway and Nauticus Robotics”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Highway | $4.80 million | 0.82 | -$1.52 million | ($0.32) | -2.66 |
| Nauticus Robotics | $4.08 million | 0.40 | -$40.83 million | ($329.27) | -0.00 |
Highway has higher revenue and earnings than Nauticus Robotics. Highway is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nauticus Robotics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Highway and Nauticus Robotics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Highway | -28.08% | -25.93% | -15.72% |
| Nauticus Robotics | -1,758.70% | -1,067.00% | -81.40% |
Summary
Highway beats Nauticus Robotics on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Highway
Highway Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and supplies metal, plastic, electric, and electronic components, subassemblies, and finished products for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and contract manufacturers. It operates through two segments, Metal Stamping and Mechanical OEM; and Electric OEM. The company also trades in plastic injection products; and manufactures and assembles automation equipment. Its products are used in the manufacture of products, such as photocopiers, laser printers, print cartridges, electrical connectors, electrical circuits, vacuum cleaners, LED power supplies, stepping motors, pumps for dishwashers, and other washing machine components. In addition, the company assists customers in the design and development of the tooling used in the metal and plastic manufacturing process, as well as provides an array of other manufacturing and engineering services, including metal stamping, screen printing, plastic injection molding, pad printing, and electronic assembly of printed circuit boards. It operates in Hong Kong and China, Europe, North America, and other Asian countries. Highway Holdings Limited was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Sheung Shui, Hong Kong.
About Nauticus Robotics
Nauticus Robotics, Inc. develops ocean robots, cloud software, and services to the ocean industry. The company offers Aquanaut, an autonomous underwater vehicle with sensor suite, which provides capability to observe and inspect subsea assets or other subsea features; Olympic Arm, an all-electric manipulator designed for a variety of intervention tasks on work class remotely operated vehicles; and ToolKITT, a software platform, which consists of interrelated products for ocean sensing, manipulation, autonomous behaviors, survey, search and recovery, and manual intervention. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Webster, Texas.