Comparing Atmus Filtration Technologies (NYSE:ATMU) and Cepton (NASDAQ:CPTN)

Cepton (NASDAQ:CPTN) and Atmus Filtration Technologies (NYSE:ATMU) are both auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Cepton has a beta of 0.07, meaning that its share price is 93% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atmus Filtration Technologies has a beta of 1.8, meaning that its share price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

68.2% of Cepton shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.7% of Atmus Filtration Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 36.1% of Cepton shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Atmus Filtration Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Cepton and Atmus Filtration Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cepton	-143.32%	N/A	-36.17%
Atmus Filtration Technologies	10.84%	134.28%	17.61%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cepton and Atmus Filtration Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cepton	$17.87 million	2.92	-$48.55 million	($1.74)	-1.87
Atmus Filtration Technologies	$1.63 billion	2.19	$171.30 million	$2.15	19.98

Atmus Filtration Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Cepton. Cepton is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atmus Filtration Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Cepton and Atmus Filtration Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cepton	0	1	0	0	2.00
Atmus Filtration Technologies	0	1	4	0	2.80

Atmus Filtration Technologies has a consensus target price of $43.80, suggesting a potential upside of 1.95%. Given Atmus Filtration Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Atmus Filtration Technologies is more favorable than Cepton.

Summary

Atmus Filtration Technologies beats Cepton on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cepton

Cepton, Inc. provides lidar-based solutions for automotive, smart cities, smart spaces, and smart industrial applications in the United States, Japan, China, and internationally. The company offers autograde lidar sensors, including Cepton Ultra, a slimmest lidar with MagnoSteer technology and proprietary ASIC chipset, enabling a combination of 300-meter range at 10% reflectivity and 0.05° resolution; Vista-X, a compact lidar solution with a range of up to 200m for long-range applications in ADAS L2+/L3, AV L4/L5, and suitable for smart infrastructure applications; and Nova, an extremely-small form factor lidar solution with a range of up to 30m for near-range applications in ADAS L2+/L3, AV L4/L5, and suitable for smart infrastructure applications. It also provides industrial grade lidar sensors, such as Vista-P, a compact lidar solution with a range of up to 200m for long-range applications in ADAS L2+/L3, AV L4/L5, and smart infrastructure applications; and Sora-P, an ultra-high scan rate, compact, and quasi line-scanning lidar solution that delivers high-fidelity profiling of objects moving at high speeds for free flow tolling and other industrial applications. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Atmus Filtration Technologies

Atmus Filtration Technologies Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells filtration products under the Fleetguard brand name in North America, Europe, South America, Asia, Australia, Africa, and internationally. The company offers fuel filters, lube filters, air filters, crankcase ventilation, hydraulic filters, coolants, and fuel additives, as well as other chemicals; and fuel water separators and other filtration systems to original equipment manufacturers, dealers/distributors, and end-users. Its products are used in on-highway commercial vehicles and off-highway agriculture, construction, mining, and power generation vehicles and equipment. The company was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.