Critical Contrast: Boxlight (NASDAQ:BOXL) vs. Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC)

Boxlight (NASDAQ:BOXL) and Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Boxlight and Western Digital”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Boxlight	$109.25 million	0.03	-$23.81 million	($80.86)	-0.07
Western Digital	$12.92 billion	12.41	$9.42 billion	$24.21	19.21

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

Profitability

This table compares Boxlight and Western Digital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Boxlight	-20.96%	N/A	-23.50%
Western Digital	72.95%	48.15%	25.79%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Boxlight and Western Digital, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Boxlight	1	0	0	0	1.00
Western Digital	0	5	18	2	2.88

Western Digital has a consensus price target of $534.56, suggesting a potential upside of 14.93%. Given Western Digital’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Western Digital is more favorable than Boxlight.

Volatility and Risk

Boxlight has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Digital has a beta of 2.14, meaning that its share price is 114% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

6.5% of Boxlight shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.5% of Western Digital shares are held by institutional investors. 15.4% of Boxlight shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Western Digital shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Western Digital beats Boxlight on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Boxlight

Boxlight Corporation designs, produces, and distributes interactive technology solutions for the education, health, corporate, military, and government sectors in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. The company provides interactive and non-interactive flat panel displays and whiteboards, LED video walls, digital signages, classroom audio and campus communication, cameras and other peripherals, and media players; and accessory document cameras, teacher pads for remote control, assessment systems, and front-of-class display products under the Mimio and Clevertouch brands. It also offers MimioStudio Interactive Instructional software that enables the creation, editing, and presentation of interactive instructional lessons and activities; MimioMobile, a software accessory for MimioStudio; Oktopus Instructional and Whiteboarding software, which enables the creation, editing, and presentation of interactive instructional lessons and activities; Notes+, a software accessory; GameZones, a multi-student interactive gaming software; MimioConnect, an online student engagement platform; and LYNX, a lesson building app. In addition, the company provides Juno, a towering standard of sound quality that reinforces a teacher's voice; Mimio MyBot system for robotics learning; Robo3D printers; MyStemKits, which offers lesson plans for grades K-12 math and science teachers; MimioView document camera; EzRoom, an integrated AV solution; Lyrik, an amplification solution; and Conductor School Communication System, an IP-based campus-wide communication and control solution; and accessories, such as mobile carts, installation accessories, and wall-mount accessories for interactive LED flat-panels and audio solutions. Further, it offers classroom training, professional development, and educator certification services. The company was formerly known as Logical Choice Corporation. Boxlight Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications. The company also provides enterprise HDDs; enterprise SSDs consisting of flash-based SSDs and software solutions for use in enterprise servers, online transactions, data analysis, and other enterprise applications; and data storage platforms. In addition, it offers external HDD storage products in mobile and desktop form; client portable SSDs; removable cards that are used in consumer devices comprising mobile phones, tablets, imaging systems, and cameras and smart video systems; universal serial bus flash drives for use in the computing and consumer markets; and wireless drive products used in-field backup of created content, as well as wireless streaming of high-definition movies, photos, music, and documents to tablets, smartphones, and PCs. The company sells its products under the Western Digital, SanDisk, and WD brands to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, dealers, resellers, and retailers. Western Digital Corporation was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.