Comparing Cooper-Standard (NYSE:CPS) and Denso (OTCMKTS:DNZOY)

Denso (OTCMKTS:DNZOY) and Cooper-Standard (NYSE:CPS) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

69.1% of Cooper-Standard shares are held by institutional investors. 9.2% of Cooper-Standard shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Denso and Cooper-Standard, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Denso	1	2	0	0	1.67
Cooper-Standard	1	2	1	0	2.00

Cooper-Standard has a consensus price target of $48.33, suggesting a potential upside of 120.89%. Given Cooper-Standard’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cooper-Standard is more favorable than Denso.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Denso and Cooper-Standard”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Denso	$50.09 billion	0.67	$2.93 billion	$1.03	11.15
Cooper-Standard	$2.74 billion	0.14	-$4.16 million	($3.14)	-6.97

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

Profitability

This table compares Denso and Cooper-Standard’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Denso	5.59%	7.85%	4.96%
Cooper-Standard	-2.03%	N/A	-2.31%

Risk and Volatility

Denso has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cooper-Standard has a beta of 2.05, meaning that its share price is 105% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Denso beats Cooper-Standard on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Denso

DENSO Corporation engages in the manufacture and sale of automotive parts in Japan, rest of Asia, North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers air-conditioning systems, including thermal management heat pump system, heat pump air-conditioning systems, refrigerant products, personal heating and cooling devices, air quality system, heat exchangers, bus air-conditioning systems, automotive freezers, and cooling products, as well as heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning units. It also provides gasoline, diesel, hybrid, electric vehicle, and fuel cell vehicle power-train systems; and safety and cockpit systems, such as driving environment recognition, vehicle dynamic control, collision safety, visibility support, cockpit information, and information security systems, as well as other products. In addition, the company offers automotive service parts and accessories, comprising spark plugs, oil and cabin air filters, wiper blades, air filter elements, starters, alternators, compressors, oxygen sensors, fuel pumps, air conditioner service parts, radiators, condensers, ion generators, air conditioners for busses and construction vehicles, and truck refrigeration products, as well as refrigerant recovery, recycling, and charging machines; and repair and support products and services. Further, it provides industrial solutions for factories in automotive parts production; agricultural solutions, including Profarm Controller, a climate control system for greenhouse and horticulture solutions; and household air conditioning equipment and industrial systems. The company was incorporated in 1949 and is headquartered in Kariya, Japan.

About Cooper-Standard

Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc., through its subsidiary, Cooper-Standard Automotive Inc., manufactures and sells sealing, fuel and brake delivery, and fluid transfer systems in the United States, Mexico, China, Poland, Canada, Germany, France, and internationally. The company offers sealing systems, including dynamic seals, static seals, encapsulated glasses, textured surfaces with cloth appearance, obstacle detection sensor systems, FlushSeal systems, variable extrusions, specialty sealing products, stainless steel trims, and frameless systems. It also provides fuel and brake delivery systems comprising chassis and tank fuel lines and bundles, metallic brake lines and bundles, quick connects, low oligomer multi-layer convoluted tubes, brake jounce lines, direct injection and port fuel rails, MagAlloy break tube coating, and ArmorTube brake tube coating. In addition, the company offers fluid transfer systems, such as heater/coolant hoses, turbo charger hoses, charged air cooler ducts/assemblies, diesel particulate filter lines, secondary air hoses, degas tanks and deaerators, brake and clutch hoses, air intake and discharge systems, transmission oil cooling hoses, high temperature MLTs, and multilayer tubing for glycol thermal management. Its products are primarily used in passenger vehicles and light trucks that are manufactured by automotive original equipment manufacturers and replacement markets. Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Northville, Michigan.