Head to Head Comparison: IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) vs. Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN)

Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN) and IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Canaan and IonQ, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Canaan	1	0	6	0	2.71
IonQ	1	4	9	0	2.57

Canaan currently has a consensus price target of $2.01, indicating a potential upside of 363.93%. IonQ has a consensus price target of $69.92, indicating a potential upside of 72.76%. Given Canaan’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Canaan is more favorable than IonQ.

Profitability

This table compares Canaan and IonQ’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Canaan	-41.71%	-55.84%	-35.47%
IonQ	-553.27%	-22.29%	-13.20%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.1% of Canaan shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.4% of IonQ shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Canaan shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of IonQ shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Canaan has a beta of 2.62, suggesting that its share price is 162% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IonQ has a beta of 3.28, suggesting that its share price is 228% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Canaan and IonQ”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Canaan	$529.73 million	0.59	-$210.27 million	($0.34)	-1.27
IonQ	$130.02 million	118.59	-$510.38 million	($4.66)	-8.68

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

Summary

Canaan beats IonQ on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Canaan

Canaan Inc. engages in the research, design, and sale of integrated circuit (IC) final mining equipment products by integrating IC products for bitcoin mining and related components in the People's Republic of China. It is also involved in the assembly and distribution of mining equipment and spare parts. The company has operations in the United States, Australia, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Canada, Mainland China, Thailand, Sweden, and internationally. Canaan Inc. was founded in 2013 and is based in Singapore.

About IonQ

IonQ, Inc. engages in the development of general-purpose quantum computing systems in the United States. It sells access to quantum computers of various qubit capacities. The company makes access to its quantum computers through cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Braket, Microsoft’s Azure Quantum, and Google’s Cloud Marketplace, as well as through its cloud service. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in College Park, Maryland.