Forward Industries (FWDI) and Its Competitors Financial Contrast

Forward Industries (NASDAQ:FWDI) is one of 342 publicly-traded companies in the “Financial Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Forward Industries to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Forward Industries and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Forward Industries	1	1	2	0	2.25
Forward Industries Competitors	1974	6876	11622	443	2.50

Forward Industries currently has a consensus price target of $13.50, indicating a potential upside of 112.60%. As a group, “Financial Services” companies have a potential downside of 1.58%. Given Forward Industries’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Forward Industries is more favorable than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares Forward Industries and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Forward Industries	-2,073.82%	-18.05%	-17.03%
Forward Industries Competitors	-409.56%	-15.97%	-6.09%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

43.2% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 15.9% of Forward Industries shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Forward Industries has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Forward Industries’ rivals have a beta of 2.49, suggesting that their average stock price is 149% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Forward Industries and its rivals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Forward Industries	$18.19 million	-$166.97 million	52.92
Forward Industries Competitors	$6.42 billion	$1.09 billion	8.38

Forward Industries’ rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Forward Industries. Forward Industries is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Forward Industries rivals beat Forward Industries on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

About Forward Industries

Forward Industries, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, markets, and distributes carry and protective solutions primarily for handheld electronic devices. The company operates in three segments: OEM Distribution, Retail Distribution, and Design. The OEM Distribution segment sources and distributes carrying cases and other accessories for medical monitoring and diagnostic kits; and various portable electronic and non-electronic products, such as sporting and recreational products, bar code scanners, GPS devices, tablets, and firearms. The Retail Distribution segment sources and sells smart-enabled furniture and a range of other products through agreements with various retailers, including in stores and online retailer websites. The Design segment provides hardware and software product design and engineering services. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers in the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Forward Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1961 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.