Reviewing Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) & Picocela (NASDAQ:PCLA)

Picocela (NASDAQ:PCLA) and Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) are both companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Picocela and Acuity Brands, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Picocela	0	0	0	0	0.00
Acuity Brands	0	3	3	0	2.50

Acuity Brands has a consensus price target of $341.40, indicating a potential upside of 14.97%. Given Acuity Brands’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Acuity Brands is more favorable than Picocela.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.2% of Acuity Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.8% of Acuity Brands shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Picocela and Acuity Brands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Picocela	N/A	N/A	N/A
Acuity Brands	11.11%	19.98%	12.44%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Picocela and Acuity Brands”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Picocela	$784.40 million	0.14	N/A	N/A	N/A
Acuity Brands	$3.86 billion	2.38	$422.60 million	$13.58	21.87

Acuity Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Picocela.

Summary

Acuity Brands beats Picocela on 10 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Picocela

We are engaged in the manufacturing, installation, and services for enterprise wireless mesh solutions. We derive our revenues mainly from two sources: (1) sales of product equipment, and (2) SaaS, maintenance and others. Under the first revenue source, we develop mesh Wi-Fi access point devices, PCWL series, adopting our proprietary patented wireless mesh communication technology software PicoCELA Backhaul Engine (“PBE”), which enables wireless Wi-Fi and mesh communication by linking a chain of multiple wireless Wi-Fi access points by radio communication not by cabling. We outsource the manufacturing of PCWL series, our mesh Wi-Fi access point devices incorporating the technology, and sell PCWL series both through distributors and to end customers directly. Under the second revenue source, we provide a cloud portal service in a SaaS model, which enables users to monitor connectivity and communication traffic at each of our mesh Wi-Fi access points. Our cloud portal service also serves as a platform for customers to install their proprietary edge-computing software into our mesh Wi-Fi access point devices. We also license our patented wireless mesh technology to third-party manufacturers which utilize our wireless mesh technology. Our business is geographically concentrated. We operate solely in Japan and generate revenue from this market as of the date of this prospectus. Due to this geographic concentration, our results of operations and financial conditions are subject to greater risks from changes in general economic and other conditions in Japan, than the operations of more geographically diversified competitors. Some of the technologies used in our products are licensed from Kyushu University, and the termination of these licenses could have a material adverse effect on our business. We outsource the manufacturing of all hardware products, PCWL series, and our mesh Wi-Fi access points devices, and are therefore subject to certain risks if our third-party manufacturers do not provide our end-customers with the quality and performance that they expect from our products. As of the date of this prospectus, we maintain a stable relationship with our major manufacturers. While we may have certain contractual remedies against them, if any of our major manufacturers becomes unable or unwilling to continue to manufacture our PCWL series, such remedies may not be sufficient in scope, we may not be able to effectively enforce such remedies, and we may incur significant costs in enforcing such remedies. For the six months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, we had a total revenue of JPY278,481 thousand (approximately $1,842 thousand), and JPY117,421 thousand, respectively. Revenue generated from the sales of product equipment was JPY231,069 thousand (approximately $1,528 thousand) and JPY83,238 thousand for the six months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. Revenue derived from SaaS, maintenance and others was JPY47,412 thousand (approximately $314 thousand) and JPY34,183 thousand for the six months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. For the fiscal years ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, we had a total revenue of JPY559,521 thousand (approximately $3,700 thousand), and JPY682,121 thousand, respectively. Revenue generated from the sales of product equipment was JPY465,691 thousand (approximately $3,080 thousand) and JPY540,857 thousand for the fiscal years ended September 2023 and 2022, respectively. Revenue derived from SaaS, maintenance and others was JPY93,830 thousand (approximately $620 thousand) and JPY141,264 thousand for the fiscal years ended September 2023 and 2022, respectively. Our headquarters are located at 2-34-5 Ningyocho, SANOS Building, Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0013 Japan. Our agent for service of process in the United States is Cogency Global Inc., located at 122 East 42nd Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10168.

About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch. This segment serves electrical distributors, retail home improvement centers, electric utilities, national accounts, original equipment manufacturers, digital retailers, lighting showrooms, and energy service companies. The ISG segment offers building management solutions, such as products for controlling heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, shades, refrigeration, and building access that deliver end-to-end optimization of those building systems; and building management software that enhances building system management and automates labor intensive tasks. This segment serves system integrators, as well as retail stores, airports, and enterprise campuses. The company offers its products and solutions under the Atrius, Distech Controls, and KE2 Therm Solutions brands. Acuity Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.