Reviewing Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB) and Gencor Industries (NASDAQ:GENC)
by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets DailyGencor Industries (NASDAQ:GENC – Get Free Report) and Proto Labs (NYSE:PRLB – Get Free Report) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Gencor Industries and Proto Labs, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Gencor Industries | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.00 |
| Proto Labs | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2.80 |
Gencor Industries presently has a consensus price target of $19.30, suggesting a potential upside of 12.87%. Proto Labs has a consensus price target of $100.50, suggesting a potential upside of 45.55%. Given Proto Labs’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Proto Labs is more favorable than Gencor Industries.
Profitability
This table compares Gencor Industries and Proto Labs’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Gencor Industries | 14.33% | 8.60% | 8.01% |
| Proto Labs | 6.04% | 5.40% | 4.73% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
84.5% of Proto Labs shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.4% of Gencor Industries shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Proto Labs shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Gencor Industries and Proto Labs”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Gencor Industries | $110.01 million | 2.28 | $14.67 million | $1.16 | 14.74 |
| Proto Labs | $533.13 million | 3.10 | $21.24 million | $1.43 | 48.29 |
Proto Labs has higher revenue and earnings than Gencor Industries. Gencor Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Proto Labs, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
Gencor Industries has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Proto Labs has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Proto Labs beats Gencor Industries on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Gencor Industries
Gencor Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells heavy machinery used in the production of highway construction materials and environmental control equipment. It offers hot-mix asphalt plants to produce asphalt paving materials; related asphalt plant equipment, including hot-mix storage silos, fabric filtration systems, cold feed bins, and other plant components; and a range of mobile batch plants. The company also provides combustion systems that transform solid, liquid, or gaseous fuels into usable energy, or burn multiple fuels in asphalt and aggregate drying industries; and combustion systems for rotary dryers, kilns, fume and liquid incinerators, and fuel heaters, as well as industrial incinerators. In addition, it offers thermal fluid heat transfer systems that transfer heat for storage, heating, and pumping viscous materials, such as asphalt, chemicals, heavy oils, etc. in various industrial and petrochemical applications; specialty storage tanks for various industrial uses; and asphalt pavers under the Blaw-Knox brand. The company sells its products primarily to the highway construction industry through its sales representatives, and independent dealers and agents worldwide. The company was formerly known as Mechtron International Corporation and changed its name to Gencor Industries, Inc. in 1987. Gencor Industries, Inc. was founded in 1894 and is based in Orlando, Florida.
About Proto Labs
Proto Labs, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital manufacturer of custom parts in the United States and Europe. The company offers injection molding; computer numerical control machining; three-dimensional printing; and sheet metal fabrication products. It serves developers and engineers, who use 3D computer-aided design software to design products across a range of end-markets. Proto Labs, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Maple Plain, Minnesota.