Mesa Laboratories (MLAB) Competitors

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) and Daktronics (NASDAQ:DAKT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, risk, dividends and valuation.

Is MLAB or DAKT a better dividend stock?

Mesa Laboratories pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Daktronics pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Mesa Laboratories pays out -1.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Daktronics pays out -100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Daktronics is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk and volatility, MLAB or DAKT?

Mesa Laboratories has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Daktronics has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor MLAB or DAKT?

In the previous week, Mesa Laboratories had 2 more articles in the media than Daktronics. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Mesa Laboratories and 4 mentions for Daktronics. Mesa Laboratories' average media sentiment score of 1.61 beat Daktronics' score of 1.20 indicating that Mesa Laboratories is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Mesa Laboratories	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Daktronics	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend MLAB or DAKT?

Mesa Laboratories currently has a consensus target price of $140.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.99%. Daktronics has a consensus target price of $26.00, indicating a potential upside of 109.51%. Given Daktronics' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Daktronics is more favorable than Mesa Laboratories.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mesa Laboratories	1 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Daktronics	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.50

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MLAB or DAKT?

Daktronics received 13 more outperform votes than Mesa Laboratories when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.13% of users gave Daktronics an outperform vote while only 63.90% of users gave Mesa Laboratories an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mesa Laboratories	Outperform Votes 223 63.90%	Underperform Votes 126 36.10%
Daktronics	Outperform Votes 236 64.13%	Underperform Votes 132 35.87%

Which has better valuation & earnings, MLAB or DAKT?

Daktronics has higher revenue and earnings than Mesa Laboratories. Daktronics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mesa Laboratories, 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
Mesa Laboratories	$237.75M	2.56	-$254.25M	-$46.26	-2.42
Daktronics	$799.81M	0.81	$34.62M	-$0.20	-62.05

Is MLAB or DAKT more profitable?

Daktronics has a net margin of 3.62% compared to Mesa Laboratories' net margin of -104.92%. Mesa Laboratories' return on equity of 30.23% beat Daktronics' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mesa Laboratories	-104.92%	30.23%	10.43%
Daktronics	3.62%	19.61%	8.96%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in MLAB or DAKT?

90.6% of Mesa Laboratories shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.7% of Daktronics shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.4% of Mesa Laboratories shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Daktronics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Daktronics beats Mesa Laboratories on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.