RBC Bearings (NASDAQ: ROLL) and iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) are both industrial products companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for RBC Bearings and iRobot, as reported by MarketBeat.



                    Sell Ratings     Hold Ratings      Buy Ratings       Strong Buy Ratings       Rating Score

RBC Bearings        0                  0                      3                         0                         3.00



iRobot                    1                 5                      4                         0                         2.30

 

 

RBC Bearings presently has a consensus target price of $140.67, suggesting a potential upside of 12.34%. iRobot has a consensus target price of $69.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.80%. Given RBC Bearings’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe RBC Bearings is more favorable than iRobot.



Valuation & Earnings



This table compares RBC Bearings and iRobot’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.



              Gross Revenue      Price/Sales Ratio      Net Income          Earnings Per Share    Price/Earnings Ratio

RBC            $615.39                 4.94                  $70.62                     $3.17                     39.50

Bearings        million                                            million



iRobot         $883.91                2.03                    $50.96                  $1.77                       36.09

                   million                                             million



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

Profitability



This table compares RBC Bearings and iRobot’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.



                           Net Margins              Return on Equity           Return on Assets

RBC Bearings           12.52%                      11.79%                       8.00%



iRobot                       5.77%                       12.62%                       9.41%



Volatility and Risk



RBC Bearings has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, iRobot has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.



Insider & Institutional Ownership



99.5% of RBC Bearings shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.4% of iRobot shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of RBC Bearings shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of iRobot shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.



Summary



RBC Bearings beats iRobot on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.



RBC Bearings Company Profile



RBC Bearings logoRBC Bearings Incorporated is an international manufacturer and marketer of engineered precision bearings and products, which are integral to the manufacture and operation of machines, aircraft and mechanical systems. The Company operates through four segments: Plain Bearings; Roller Bearings; Ball Bearings, and Engineered Products. The Company has over 40 facilities of which over 30 are manufacturing facilities in approximately five countries. The Company classifies its customers into two categories: industrial and aerospace. The Company manufactures bearings and engineered products for a range of diversified industrial markets, including construction and mining, oil and natural resource extraction, heavy truck, marine, rail and train, packaging, semiconductor machinery and the general industrial markets. The Company supplies bearings and engineered products for use in commercial, private and military aircraft and aircraft engines, guided weaponry, and vision and optical systems.



iRobot Company Profile



iRobot logoiRobot Corporation designs, builds, and sells robots for the consumer market worldwide. It offers Roomba floor vacuuming robots; Braava family of automatic floor mopping robots; and Mirra Pool Cleaning Robot to clean residential pools and removes debris as small as two microns from pool floors, walls, and stair. The company sells its robots through various distribution channels, including chain stores and other national retailers, its online store, and value-added distributors and resellers. iRobot Corporation was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts.