Optical Cable (OCC) Competitors

Optical Cable (NASDAQ:OCC) and Friedman Industries (NASDAQ:FRD) are both small-cap steel works companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment and earnings.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of OCC or FRD?

13.6% of Optical Cable shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.3% of Friedman Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.8% of Optical Cable shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Friedman Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer OCC or FRD?

In the previous week, Optical Cable had 1 more articles in the media than Friedman Industries. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Optical Cable and 4 mentions for Friedman Industries. Friedman Industries' average media sentiment score of 0.47 beat Optical Cable's score of 0.45 indicating that Friedman Industries is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Optical Cable	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Friedman Industries	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is OCC or FRD a better dividend stock?

Optical Cable pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Friedman Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Optical Cable pays out -21.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Friedman Industries pays out 18.6% 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. Friedman Industries has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Optical Cable is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has better valuation and earnings, OCC or FRD?

Friedman Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Optical Cable. Optical Cable is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Friedman Industries, 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
Optical Cable	$69.00M	0.65	-$4.21M	-$0.38	-14.34
Friedman Industries	$444.60M	0.25	$6.09M	$0.86	18.23

Which has more risk and volatility, OCC or FRD?

Optical Cable has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Friedman Industries has a beta of 1.48, meaning that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is OCC or FRD more profitable?

Friedman Industries has a net margin of 1.37% compared to Optical Cable's net margin of -4.33%. Friedman Industries' return on equity of 4.70% beat Optical Cable's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Optical Cable	-4.33%	-14.94%	-7.72%
Friedman Industries	1.37%	4.70%	2.80%

Summary

Friedman Industries beats Optical Cable on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.