Comparing POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET) and Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR)

POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET) and Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR) are both technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for POET Technologies and Aehr Test Systems, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
POET Technologies	1	0	0	0	1.00
Aehr Test Systems	1	1	5	1	2.75

POET Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 55.95%. Aehr Test Systems has a consensus price target of $118.75, suggesting a potential upside of 108.41%. Given Aehr Test Systems’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Aehr Test Systems is more favorable than POET Technologies.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares POET Technologies and Aehr Test Systems”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
POET Technologies	$1.08 million	821.94	-$62.96 million	($0.58)	-8.84
Aehr Test Systems	$50.00 million	37.37	-$7.13 million	$0.04	1,424.50

Aehr Test Systems has higher revenue and earnings than POET Technologies. POET Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aehr Test Systems, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

2.0% of POET Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.7% of Aehr Test Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of POET Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Aehr Test Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares POET Technologies and Aehr Test Systems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
POET Technologies	-4,423.13%	-11.65%	-10.12%
Aehr Test Systems	2.97%	1.76%	1.54%

Volatility & Risk

POET Technologies has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aehr Test Systems has a beta of 3.36, indicating that its share price is 236% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Aehr Test Systems beats POET Technologies on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About POET Technologies

POET Technologies develops photonic integrated circuits and optical engines for applications that require high-speed data transmission. Its products are designed for markets including data centers, artificial intelligence infrastructure and telecommunications. The company’s proprietary Optical Interposer platform is intended to integrate optical and electronic components using semiconductor manufacturing techniques. POET uses this platform to develop compact optical engines that combine components such as lasers, photonic devices and integrated circuits.

About Aehr Test Systems

Aehr Test Systems designs, manufactures and markets semiconductor test and burn-in equipment and related products. Its systems are used to test devices at the wafer, die and packaged-chip stages of production. The company’s offerings include FOX series test and burn-in systems, WaferPak wafer-level contactors and DiePak carriers. These products support testing for applications such as silicon carbide power semiconductors, silicon photonics and other devices used in automotive, computing and communications markets.