Reviewing Park Aerospace (NYSE:PKE) and Astrotech (NASDAQ:ASTC)

Astrotech (NASDAQ:ASTC) and Park Aerospace (NYSE:PKE) are both small-cap aerospace companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

24.4% of Astrotech shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.8% of Park Aerospace shares are held by institutional investors. 16.8% of Astrotech shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.3% of Park Aerospace shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Astrotech has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its stock price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Park Aerospace has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Astrotech and Park Aerospace”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrotech	$1.05 million	5.57	-$13.85 million	($8.39)	-0.39
Park Aerospace	$63.13 million	5.95	$5.88 million	$0.36	52.43

Park Aerospace has higher revenue and earnings than Astrotech. Astrotech is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Park Aerospace, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Astrotech and Park Aerospace’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrotech	-1,320.31%	-51.77%	-46.19%
Park Aerospace	11.57%	7.97%	7.01%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Astrotech and Park Aerospace, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrotech	1	0	0	0	1.00
Park Aerospace	0	1	0	0	2.00

Summary

Park Aerospace beats Astrotech on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Astrotech

Astrotech Corporation operates as a mass spectrometry company worldwide. It owns and licenses the intellectual property related to the Astrotech Mass Spectrometer Technology, a platform mass spectrometry technology. The company also develops TRACER 1000, a mass spectrometer-based explosive trace detector to replace the explosives trace detectors used at airports, cargo and other secured facilities, and borders. In addition, it develops AgLAB-1000, a mass spectrometer for use in the hemp and cannabis market. Further, the company develops BreathTest-1000, a breath analysis tool to screen for volatile organic compound metabolites found in a person's breath. The company was formerly known as SPACEHAB, Inc. and changed its name to Astrotech Corporation in 2009. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is based in Austin, Texas.

About Park Aerospace

Park Aerospace Corp., an aerospace company, develops and manufactures solution and hot-melt advanced composite materials used to produce composite structures for the aerospace market in North America, Asia, and Europe. It offers advanced composite materials, including film adhesives and lightning strike protection materials that are used to produce primary and secondary structures for jet engines, large and regional transport aircrafts, military aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles, business jets, general aviation aircrafts, and rotary wing aircrafts. The company also provides specialty ablative materials for rocket motors and nozzles; and specially designed materials for radome applications. In addition, it designs and fabricates composite parts, structures and assemblies, and low volume tooling for the aerospace industry. The company was formerly known as Park Electrochemical Corp. and changed its name to Park Aerospace Corp. in July 2019. Park Aerospace Corp. was incorporated in 1954 and is based in Westbury, New York.