Critical Analysis: Northern Star Investment Corp. II (NYSE:NSTB) & HORIBA (OTCMKTS:HRIBF)

Risk and Volatility

HORIBA has a beta of 0.16, meaning that its share price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Northern Star Investment Corp. II has a beta of 0.05, meaning that its share price is 95% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares HORIBA and Northern Star Investment Corp. II’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HORIBA	11.49%	12.45%	7.91%
Northern Star Investment Corp. II	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.4% of Northern Star Investment Corp. II shares are held by institutional investors. 85.0% of Northern Star Investment Corp. II shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares HORIBA and Northern Star Investment Corp. II”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HORIBA	$1.97 billion	1.25	$286.14 million	$5.59	10.42
Northern Star Investment Corp. II	N/A	N/A	$13.75 million	N/A	N/A

HORIBA has higher revenue and earnings than Northern Star Investment Corp. II.

Summary

HORIBA beats Northern Star Investment Corp. II on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HORIBA

HORIBA, Ltd. manufactures and sells instruments and systems worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Automotive, Environment/Process, Medical, Semiconductor, and Scientific. The Automotive segment offers engine emission measurement devices; in-use vehicle emission measurement devices; on-board emission measurement devices; in-vehicle exhaust gas measuring devices; driveline test systems; engine test systems; brake test systems; fuel cell test devices; battery test devices; and vehicle development engineering and test engineering services, as well as leases and manages research and development facilities. The Environment/Process segment provides flue gas analyzers, water quality measuring devices, air pollution monitoring analyzers, environmental radiation measuring instruments, and process measurement equipment. The Medical segment offers hematology and CRP, immunology, clinical chemistry, and blood glucose analyzers, blood cell counters, biochemical testing devices, blood glucose testing devices, as well as coagulation/hemostasis analyzers. The Semiconductor segment provides mass flow controllers, chemical concentration monitors, semiconductor contaminant inspection equipment, and residual gas analyzer. The Scientific segment offers Raman spectrometers, pH meters, water quality measuring devices, particle size distribution measuring devices, X -ray fluorescence analyzers, elemental analyzers, fluorescence spectroscopy/lifetime measurement devices, spectrometer/detectors, and gratings. It also engages in the fund management, software development, and automation software for engine. The company’s products are used in arts, entertainment, and recreation; education, research and development, and government institution; food and beverage; energy and environment; health care; industrials; information technology; water; materials; mobility and transport; and waste management applications. HORIBA, Ltd. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Kyoto, Japan.

About Northern Star Investment Corp. II

Northern Star Investment Corp. II does not have significant operations. It intends to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is based in New York, New York.