Itron (ITRI) Competitors

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) and Coherent (NYSE:COHR) are both electronic equipment & instruments companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Which has more risk and volatility, ITRI or COHR?

Itron has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Coherent has a beta of 1.88, indicating that its stock price is 88% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in ITRI or COHR?

96.2% of Itron shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.3% of Coherent shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Itron shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Coherent shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ITRI or COHR more profitable?

Itron has a net margin of 10.34% compared to Coherent's net margin of 1.73%. Itron's return on equity of 19.65% beat Coherent's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Itron	10.34%	19.65%	8.04%
Coherent	1.73%	9.07%	3.56%

Do analysts prefer ITRI or COHR?

Itron presently has a consensus target price of $128.18, indicating a potential downside of 5.51%. Coherent has a consensus target price of $103.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.50%. Given Coherent's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Coherent is more favorable than Itron.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Itron	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73
Coherent	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has higher valuation & earnings, ITRI or COHR?

Itron has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Coherent. Coherent is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Itron, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Itron	$2.44B	2.53	$239.10M	$5.48	24.75
Coherent	$4.71B	3.00	-$156.15M	-$0.23	-394.57

Does the media prefer ITRI or COHR?

In the previous week, Itron had 13 more articles in the media than Coherent. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Itron and 2 mentions for Coherent. Itron's average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Coherent's score of 0.60 indicating that Itron is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Itron	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Coherent	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Itron beats Coherent on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.