Analyzing Knightscope (NASDAQ:KSCP) and HNI (NYSE:HNI)
by Michael Walen · The Markets DailyHNI (NYSE:HNI – Get Free Report) and Knightscope (NASDAQ:KSCP – Get Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations for HNI and Knightscope, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| HNI | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.50 |
| Knightscope | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2.50 |
HNI currently has a consensus price target of $65.00, suggesting a potential upside of 37.47%. Knightscope has a consensus price target of $12.67, suggesting a potential upside of 2,568.35%. Given Knightscope’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Knightscope is more favorable than HNI.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
75.3% of HNI shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.6% of Knightscope shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of HNI shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Knightscope shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares HNI and Knightscope”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| HNI | $2.84 billion | 1.20 | $54.20 million | $0.44 | 107.46 |
| Knightscope | $11.34 million | 0.98 | -$33.81 million | ($3.43) | -0.14 |
HNI has higher revenue and earnings than Knightscope. Knightscope is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HNI, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
HNI has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Knightscope has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares HNI and Knightscope’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| HNI | 1.00% | 15.39% | 5.76% |
| Knightscope | -217.29% | -152.20% | -90.99% |
Summary
HNI beats Knightscope on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.
About HNI
HNI Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, sale, and marketing of workplace furnishings and residential building products primarily in the United States and Canada. The company operates through two segments, Workplace Furnishings and Residential Building Products. The Workplace Furnishings segment offers a range of commercial and home office furniture, including panel-based and freestanding furniture systems, seating, storage, benching, tables, architectural products, and ancillary and hospitality products, as well as social collaborative items under the HON, Allsteel, Beyond, Gunlocke, HBF, HBF Textiles, HNI India, Kimball, National, Etc., Interwoven, David Edward, Kimball Hospitality, and D'style brands. This segment sells its products through independent office products dealers, wholesalers, office product distributors, e-commerce focused resellers, and wholesalers, as well as directly to end-user customers and governments. The Residential Building Products segment provides various gas, wood, electric, and pellet-fueled prefabricated fireplaces; and inserts, hearth stoves, facings, outdoor fire pits and fire tables, and accessories. This segment sells its products primarily for home use under the Heatilator, Heat & Glo, Majestic, Monessen, Quadra-Fire, Harman, Vermont Castings, PelPro, Stellar, SimpliFire, The Outdoor GreatRoom Company, and Forge & Flame brand names through independent dealers and distributors, and corporation-owned distribution and retail outlets. The company was incorporated in 1944 and is headquartered in Muscatine, Iowa.
About Knightscope
Knightscope, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, markets, deploys, and supports autonomous security robots (ASR) in the United States. Its products include K3 and K5 ASRs designed to roam a geo-fenced area autonomously by utilizing numerous sensors and lasers, either on a random basis or based on a particular patrolling algorithm to navigate around people, vehicles, and objects in dynamic indoor or outdoor environments; K1, an ASR for used in indoors or outdoors and at ingress/egress points for both people and vehicles; and K7, a multi-terrain ASR. The company also develops and operates the Knightscope security operations center (KSOC), a browser-based interface, which allows real-time data access service to its clients for alert of an abnormal event; and Knightscope network operations center (KNOC), a custom set of tools that enables it to manage and monitor the network of ASRs with alerts related to critical indicators and statistics, including charging, software, navigation, and temperatures, as well as to execute over-the-air software upgrades, patches, and other related items. In addition, it offers Knightscope+, a virtual monitoring and response solution that provides an alternative for client sites. The company serves airports, commercial real estate, corporate campus, homeowner associations, hotels, universities, municipalities, rail, healthcare, public parks, schools, casinos, corporations, logistics, manufacturing, law enforcement, Parking areas, municipalities, universities, and property management companies, as well as the U.S. federal government. Knightscope, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.