Ceva (NASDAQ:CEVA) & Peraso (NASDAQ:PRSO) Critical Analysis

Ceva (NASDAQ:CEVA) and Peraso (NASDAQ:PRSO) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, risk, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Ceva and Peraso, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ceva	1	2	9	0	2.67
Peraso	1	0	1	2	3.00

Ceva presently has a consensus target price of $42.80, suggesting a potential upside of 20.26%. Peraso has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 319.58%. Given Peraso’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Peraso is more favorable than Ceva.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ceva and Peraso”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ceva	$109.60 million	9.05	-$10.64 million	($0.45)	-79.09
Peraso	$12.19 million	0.86	-$4.75 million	($0.83)	-0.86

Peraso has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ceva. Ceva is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Peraso, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ceva and Peraso’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ceva	-10.47%	-3.42%	-2.98%
Peraso	-73.00%	-170.96%	-111.61%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

85.4% of Ceva shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.6% of Peraso shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of Ceva shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Peraso shares are held 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.

Volatility & Risk

Ceva has a beta of 1.99, indicating that its share price is 99% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peraso has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ceva beats Peraso on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ceva

CEVA, Inc. provides silicon and software IP solutions to semiconductor and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) companies worldwide. Its 5G mobile and infrastructure products include Ceva-XC vector digital signal processors (DSPs) for 5G handsets, 5G RAN, and general-purpose baseband processing; PentaG-RAN, an open ran platform for base station and radio; and PentaG2 – 5G NR modem platform for UE, as well as for non-handset 5G vertical markets, such as fixed wireless access, industry 4.0, robotics, and AR/VR devices. The company’s wireless IoT products comprise RivieraWaves’ Bluetooth 5dual mode and low energy platforms, RivieraWaves’ Wi-Fi platforms, ultra-wide band platforms, and Cellular IoT and RedCap platforms, as well as sense and inference processors and platforms consist of NeuPro-M neural processing unit (NPU) family; SensPro2 sensor hub AI platforms addressing imaging, vision, powertrain, and applications, including DSP processors, AI accelerators, and a software portfolio; and Ceva-BX1 and Ceva-BX2 audio AI DSPs. Its sensing and audio software comprise RealSpace spatial audio software package; WhisPro speech recognition; ClearVox, a voice front-end software package for voice-enabled devices; and CDNN, a neural network graph compiler that enables AI developers to automatically compile, optimize, and run pre-trained networks onto embedded devices. The company’s application software IP are licensed primarily to OEMs who embed it in their system on chip designs. It delivers AI DSPs and NPUs in the form of a hardware description language definition; and offers development platforms, software development kits, and software debug tools, which facilitate system design, debug, and software development. The company licenses its technology through a direct sales force. CEVA, Inc. was formerly known as ParthusCeva, Inc. and changed its name to CEVA, Inc. in December 2003. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.

About Peraso

Peraso Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, develops, markets, and sells semiconductor devices and modules. The company's products include millimeter wavelength (mmWave) ICs, including baseband IC, various mmWave radio frequency, integrated circuits, as well as associated antenna technology; and mmWave antenna modules. It also provides accelerator engine products, comprising bandwidth engine for high-performance applications where throughput is critical; and quad partition rate, which allows for parallel accesses to multiple partitions of the memory simultaneously. Its mmWave products are used for various applications, such as multi-gigabit point-to-point (PtMP) wireless links; and fixed wireless access in the 5G operating bands, as well as consumer applications, such as wireless video streaming, and untethered augmented reality and virtual reality. The company also licenses intellectual property, as well as offers non-recurring engineering services. It markets its products through direct sales personnel, as well as sells representatives and distributors. The company was formerly knowns as MoSys, Inc. and changed its name to Peraso Inc. in December 2021. Peraso Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in San Jose, California.