Beam Global (NASDAQ:BEEM) and FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM) Critical Review

Beam Global (NASDAQ:BEEM) and FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Beam Global and FormFactor”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Beam Global	$60.88 million	0.37	-$16.06 million	($0.97)	-1.57
FormFactor	$763.60 million	2.35	$69.61 million	$0.89	26.04

FormFactor has higher revenue and earnings than Beam Global. Beam Global is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FormFactor, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

26.6% of Beam Global shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.8% of FormFactor shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Beam Global shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of FormFactor shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Beam Global and FormFactor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Beam Global	-19.26%	-19.09%	-12.16%
FormFactor	9.12%	5.93%	4.89%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Beam Global and FormFactor, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Beam Global	0	1	3	0	2.75
FormFactor	0	5	3	0	2.38

Beam Global presently has a consensus price target of $9.00, suggesting a potential upside of 492.11%. FormFactor has a consensus price target of $48.50, suggesting a potential upside of 109.23%. Given Beam Global’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Beam Global is more favorable than FormFactor.

Risk and Volatility

Beam Global has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FormFactor has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

FormFactor beats Beam Global on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Beam Global

Beam Global, a clean-technology innovation company, engages in the design, development, engineering, manufacture, and sale of renewably energized infrastructure products and battery solutions. Its product portfolio includes EV ARC (electric vehicle autonomous renewable charger), an infrastructure product that uses integrated solar power and battery storage to provide a mounting asset and a source of power for factory installed electric vehicle charging stations; Solar Tree DCFC, an off-grid, renewably energized, and single-column mounted smart generation and energy storage system to provide a 150kW DC fast charge to one or more electric vehicles, such as electric buses, heavy-duty vehicles, agricultural equipment, public transportation, and electric vehicles used in the construction industry; and EV ARC DCFC, a DC fast charging system for charging EVs. The company is also involved in the development of EV-Standard, a lamp standard, EV charging, and emergency power product that uses an existing streetlamp's foundation and a combination of solar, wind, grid connection, and onboard energy storage to provide curbside charging; and UAV ARC, an off-grid and renewably energized product and network used to charge aerial drone (UAV) fleets. It offers its solutions for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, energy storage, energy security, disaster preparedness, street lighting, telecommunications, energy infrastructure, and outdoor media and branding industries. The company was formerly known as Envision Solar International, Inc. and changed its name to Beam Global in September 2020. Beam Global was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About FormFactor

FormFactor, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells probe cards, analytical probes, probe stations, metrology systems, thermal systems, and cryogenic systems to semiconductor companies and scientific institutions in the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Probe Cards and Systems. The company offers probe cards to test various semiconductor device types, including systems on a chip products, mobile application processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and graphic processors, as well as radio frequency, analog, mixed signal, image sensor, electro-optical, dynamic random access memory, NAND flash memory, and NOR flash memory devices, as well as computer processor devices; and analytical probes, which are used for a range of applications, including device characterization, electrical simulation model development, failure analysis, and prototype design debugging for universities, research institutions, semiconductor integrated device manufacturers, semiconductor foundries, and fabless semiconductor companies. It also provides probe systems for semiconductor design engineers to capture and analyze accurate data; surface metrology systems for the development, production, and quality control of semiconductor products; thermal subsystems, such as thermal chucks and other test systems used in probe stations and other applications; and precision cryogenic instruments, semiconductor tests, and measurement systems. In addition, the company offers on-site probe card maintenance and service training, seminars, and telephone support services. It markets and sells its products through direct sales force, manufacturers' representatives, and distributors. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Livermore, California.