Analyzing Knightscope (NASDAQ:KSCP) and Powerfleet (NASDAQ:AIOT)

Powerfleet (NASDAQ:AIOT) and Knightscope (NASDAQ:KSCP) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

73.4% of Powerfleet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.6% of Knightscope shares are held by institutional investors. 7.8% of Powerfleet shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.4% of Knightscope shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Powerfleet and Knightscope, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Powerfleet	0	0	3	0	3.00
Knightscope	0	0	1	0	3.00

Powerfleet presently has a consensus price target of $12.50, suggesting a potential upside of 69.84%. Knightscope has a consensus price target of $200.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1,147.66%. Given Knightscope’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Knightscope is more favorable than Powerfleet.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Powerfleet and Knightscope”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Powerfleet	$133.59 million	7.28	-$5.68 million	N/A	N/A
Knightscope	$12.80 million	4.36	-$22.12 million	($13.58)	-1.18

Powerfleet has higher revenue and earnings than Knightscope.

Profitability

This table compares Powerfleet and Knightscope’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Powerfleet	N/A	N/A	N/A
Knightscope	-284.42%	N/A	-129.83%

Volatility and Risk

Powerfleet has a beta of 1.67, indicating that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Knightscope has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Powerfleet beats Knightscope on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Powerfleet

PowerFleet, Inc. provides wireless Internet-of-Things asset management solutions in the United States, Israel, and internationally. The company offers real-time intelligence for organizations to capture IoT data from various types of assets with devices and sensors to increase efficiencies, and improve safety and security, as well as increase their profitability in easy-to-understand reports, dashboards, and real-time alerts; and application programming interfaces for additional integrations and development to boost other enterprise management systems and third-party applications. It also provides hosting, maintenance, and support and consulting services; and Software as a Service, including system monitoring, help desk technical support, escalation procedure development, routine diagnostic data analysis, and software updates services. The company offers its products under the PowerFleet, Pointer, and Cellocator brands. It sells its products to commercial and government sectors in manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, wholesale and retail, food and grocery distribution, pharmaceutical and medical distribution, construction, mining, utilities, heavy industry, aerospace and defense, homeland security, and vehicle rental, logistics, shipping, and freight transportation markets, as well as through indirect sales channels, such as original equipment manufacturers, vehicle importers, distributors, and industrial equipment dealers. The company was formerly known as I.D. Systems, Inc. PowerFleet, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

About Knightscope

Knightscope, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, markets, deploys, and supports autonomous security robots (ASR) in the United States. Its products include K3 and K5 ASRs designed to roam a geo-fenced area autonomously by utilizing numerous sensors and lasers, either on a random basis or based on a particular patrolling algorithm to navigate around people, vehicles, and objects in dynamic indoor or outdoor environments; K1, an ASR for used in indoors or outdoors and at ingress/egress points for both people and vehicles; and K7, a multi-terrain ASR. The company also develops and operates the Knightscope security operations center (KSOC), a browser-based interface, which allows real-time data access service to its clients for alert of an abnormal event; and Knightscope network operations center (KNOC), a custom set of tools that enables it to manage and monitor the network of ASRs with alerts related to critical indicators and statistics, including charging, software, navigation, and temperatures, as well as to execute over-the-air software upgrades, patches, and other related items. In addition, it offers Knightscope+, a virtual monitoring and response solution that provides an alternative for client sites. The company serves airports, commercial real estate, corporate campus, homeowner associations, hotels, universities, municipalities, rail, healthcare, public parks, schools, casinos, corporations, logistics, manufacturing, law enforcement, Parking areas, municipalities, universities, and property management companies, as well as the U.S. federal government. Knightscope, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.