Critical Review: Vishay Precision Group (NYSE:VPG) vs. Amphenol (NYSE:APH)

Amphenol (NYSE:APH) and Vishay Precision Group (NYSE:VPG) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.0% of Amphenol shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.6% of Vishay Precision Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Amphenol shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of Vishay Precision Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Amphenol and Vishay Precision Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amphenol	0	1	14	1	3.00
Vishay Precision Group	1	1	2	0	2.25

Amphenol currently has a consensus target price of $96.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.28%. Vishay Precision Group has a consensus target price of $82.33, suggesting a potential upside of 25.78%. Given Vishay Precision Group’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vishay Precision Group is more favorable than Amphenol.

Risk & Volatility

Amphenol has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vishay Precision Group has a beta of 1.42, suggesting that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Amphenol and Vishay Precision Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amphenol	17.73%	39.87%	14.80%
Vishay Precision Group	1.20%	1.77%	1.31%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Amphenol and Vishay Precision Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amphenol	$23.09 billion	8.97	$4.27 billion	$2.00	42.00
Vishay Precision Group	$328.59 million	2.65	$5.29 million	$0.30	218.20

Amphenol has higher revenue and earnings than Vishay Precision Group. Amphenol is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vishay Precision Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Amphenol beats Vishay Precision Group on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amphenol

Amphenol Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, primarily designs, manufactures, and markets electrical, electronic, and fiber optic connectors in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Harsh Environment Solutions, Communications Solutions, and Interconnect and Sensor Systems. The company offers connectors and connector systems, including harsh environment data, power, high-speed, fiber optic, and radio frequency interconnect products; busbars and power distribution systems; and other connectors. It also provides value-add products, such as backplane interconnect systems, cable assemblies and harnesses, and cable management products; other products comprising flexible and rigid printed circuit boards, hinges, other mechanical, and production related products. In addition, the company offers consumer device, network infrastructure, and other antennas; coaxial, power, and specialty cables; and sensors and sensor-based products. It sells its products through its sales force, independent representatives, and a network of electronics distributors to original equipment manufacturers, electronic manufacturing services companies, original design manufacturers, and service providers in the automotive, broadband communication, commercial aerospace, industrial, information technology and data communication, military, mobile device, and mobile network markets. Amphenol Corporation was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Wallingford, Connecticut.

About Vishay Precision Group

Vishay Precision Group, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets specialized sensors, weighing solutions, and measurement systems in the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Asia, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Sensors, Weighing Solutions, and Measurement Systems. Its product portfolio includes precision resistors, strain gages, load cells and force measurement transducers, on-board weighing systems, and process weighing products; rolling force measuring load cell systems and pressure transmitters; web tension measurement load cells and systems; and optical strip width gages; and laser velocimeters for speed and length measurements and closed-loop crop optimization control systems for optimal strip cuts. The company also offers data acquisition systems and sensors for product safety testing; thermal-mechanical simulation systems for metallurgical research; and conditioning, data acquisition and control systems, as well as electronic displays, signal processors, microelectromechanical system sensors, cabling, system software, and communications software/hardware. Its products are used in industrial comprising waste management, bulk hauling, logging, scales manufacturing, engineering systems, pharmaceutical, oil, chemical, steel, paper, and food industries, as well as test and measurement, steel, medical, construction, agricultural, and consumer markets. The company offers its products under the Alpha Electronics, Powertron, Vishay Foil Resistors, Micro-Measurements, APR, Celtron, Revere, Sensortronics, Tedea-Huntleigh, Stress-tek, Vulcan, BLH Nobel, KELK, and DTS brands. Vishay Precision Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania.