Head to Head Survey: Fluence Energy (NASDAQ:FLNC) and Hoku (OTCMKTS:HOKUQ)

Hoku (OTCMKTS:HOKUQ) and Fluence Energy (NASDAQ:FLNC) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Hoku and Fluence Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hoku	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fluence Energy	-0.08%	-0.36%	-0.11%

Volatility & Risk

Hoku has a beta of -15, indicating that its stock price is 1,600% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fluence Energy has a beta of 2.49, indicating that its stock price is 149% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

53.2% of Fluence Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of Hoku shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Fluence Energy shares are held 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hoku and Fluence Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hoku	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fluence Energy	$2.52 billion	0.38	$22.72 million	($0.05)	-106.00

Fluence Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Hoku.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Hoku and Fluence Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hoku	0	0	0	0	0.00
Fluence Energy	1	15	9	0	2.32

Fluence Energy has a consensus target price of $14.34, indicating a potential upside of 170.58%. Given Fluence Energy’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fluence Energy is more favorable than Hoku.

Summary

Fluence Energy beats Hoku on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hoku

Hoku Corporation operates as a solar energy products and services company primarily in the United States. It focuses on manufacturing polysilicon, a primary material used in the manufacture of photovoltaic (PV) modules; and designing, engineering, and installing turnkey PV systems and related services in Hawaii using solar modules purchased from third-party suppliers. The company was formerly known as Hoku Scientific, Inc. and changed its name to Hoku Corporation in March 2010. Hoku Corporation was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. On July 2, 2013, Hoku Corporation along with its affiliates filed a voluntary petition for liquidation under Chapter 7 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Idaho.

About Fluence Energy

Fluence Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, offers energy storage products and solution, services, and artificial intelligence enabled software-as-a-service products for renewables and storage applications in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company sells energy storage products with integrated hardware, software, and digital intelligence. Its energy storage products include Gridstack Pro, a large-scale front-of-the-meter application; Gridstack, a front-of-the-meter application; Sunstack, a DC-coupled energy storage product for DC-coupled solar + storage projects; Edgestack, for smaller-scale commercial and industrial use cases; and Ultrastack, for critical system requirements of distribution and transmission networks. The company also provides engineering and delivery services to support the deployment of its storage products; operational and maintenance services; and digital applications. It serves independent power producers, developer, utilities, and other generators. Fluence Energy, Inc. was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Fluence Energy, Inc. is a joint venture of Siemens Aktiengesellschaft and The AES Corporation.