Contrasting Soitec (OTCMKTS:SLOIF) and nLight (NASDAQ:LASR)

Soitec (OTCMKTS:SLOIF) and nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Soitec has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, nLight has a beta of 2.34, meaning that its stock price is 134% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

83.9% of nLight shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of nLight shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Soitec and nLight’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Soitec	N/A	N/A	N/A
nLight	-5.08%	-4.18%	-3.20%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Soitec and nLight, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Soitec	1	0	0	0	1.00
nLight	1	1	9	1	2.83

nLight has a consensus target price of $67.81, indicating a potential downside of 19.09%. Given nLight’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe nLight is more favorable than Soitec.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Soitec and nLight”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Soitec	$937.30 million	6.59	$98.66 million	N/A	N/A
nLight	$261.33 million	18.09	-$23.47 million	($0.30)	-279.37

Soitec has higher revenue and earnings than nLight.

Summary

nLight beats Soitec on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Soitec

Soitec SA designs and manufactures semiconductor materials worldwide. Its products are used to manufacture chips that are used in smart phones, tablets, computers, IT servers, and data centers, as well as electronic components in cars, connected devices, and industrial and medical equipment. It provides CONNECT Radio Frequency Silicon-on-Insulator (RF-SOI) for smartphone front-end modules; CONNECT Piezoelectric-on-Insulator RF filters for smartphone; and CONNECT RF gallium nitride for 5g infrastructure base stations and smartphones, as well as CONNECT Fully Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator (FD-SOI). The company also offers Auto Power-SOI product for automotive and industrial markets; Auto Smartsic for green mobility; and AUTO POWER-allium nitride for power efficiency, as well as AUTO FD-SOI for automotive radar and processors. In addition, it provides Smart photonics-SOI products for optical networking; Smart Imager-SOI products for next generation 3D image sensing; Smart FD-SOI for ultra low power, energy efficient, and body biasing; smart partially depleted (PD) -SOI for high-performance computing markets. Soitec SA was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Bernin, France.

About nLight

nLIGHT, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications. It sells its products through direct sales force in the United States, China, South Korea, and European countries, as well as through independent sales representatives and distributors in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. The company was formerly known as nLight Photonics Corporation and changed its name to nLIGHT, Inc. in January 2016. nLIGHT, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Camas, Washington.