Acorn Energy Inc. (ACFN) vs Sono-Tek Corporation (SOTK)

Acorn Energy Inc. and Sono-Tek Corporation are both Scientific & Technical Instruments companies. Sono-Tek Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $75.0M against $52.2M — 1.4× the size. Acorn Energy Inc. trades at the lower P/E: 33.9× against 38.0×. Sono-Tek Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 4.04% against −27.5%. Acorn Energy Inc. has the higher net margin (16.1% vs 9.62%) and the lower return on invested capital (9.78% vs 35.4%). Across the 21 metrics below, Sono-Tek Corporation leads on 13 and Acorn Energy Inc. on 8.

Valuation

Metric ACFN SOTK Scientific & Technical Instruments median
P/E 33.85 38.00 35.93
P/S 5.50 3.62 4.46
P/B 5.95 3.77 3.00
Price to free cash flow 43.43 13.31 24.96
EV/EBITDA 57.75 21.88 19.60
EV/Sales 5.08 2.93 4.98
Earnings yield 2.95% 2.63% 0.53%
Free cash flow yield 2.30% 7.51% 1.12%

Profitability

Metric ACFN SOTK Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Gross margin 80.29% 51.82% 45.75%
Operating margin 7.15% 10.44% 7.34%
Net margin 16.12% 9.62% 1.56%
Free cash flow margin 12.66% 27.31% 5.84%
Return on equity 19.57% 10.61% 2.87%
Return on assets 11.90% 8.37% 0.99%
Return on invested capital 9.78% 35.35% 3.88%

Growth

Metric ACFN SOTK Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Revenue growth (TTM) (27.50%) 4.04% 11.28%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (60.56%) 37.50% —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 14.15% 7.11% 7.89%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 105.19% 10.01% 0.00%

Health

Metric ACFN SOTK Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Debt to equity 0.00 0.00 0.00
Current ratio 2.12 4.37 2.24
Net debt to EBITDA (2.09) (5.94) 0.44

Dividend

Metric ACFN SOTK Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Dividend yield — — 0.72%
Payout ratio — 0.00 0.00

Size

Metric ACFN SOTK Scientific & Technical Instruments median
Market cap 52.20m 74.97m 483.67m

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