Head to Head Comparison: NVE (NASDAQ:NVEC) vs. Atomera (NASDAQ:ATOM)

Atomera (NASDAQ:ATOM) and NVE (NASDAQ:NVEC) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Atomera and NVE, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atomera	1	0	0	0	1.00
NVE	0	0	1	0	3.00

Insider & Institutional Ownership

30.8% of Atomera shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.9% of NVE shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.1% of Atomera shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of NVE shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Atomera and NVE”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atomera	$60,000.00	2,669.62	-$20.17 million	($0.65)	-6.32
NVE	$26.33 million	18.49	$15.20 million	$3.72	27.03

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

Risk and Volatility

Atomera has a beta of 2.02, indicating that its stock price is 102% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NVE has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Atomera and NVE’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atomera	-9,742.17%	-77.91%	-70.64%
NVE	57.64%	30.53%	29.54%

Summary

NVE beats Atomera on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Atomera

Atomera Incorporated engages in the developing, commercializing, and licensing proprietary processes and technologies for the semiconductor industry in North America and the Asia Pacific. The company's lead technology is the Mears Silicon Technology, a thin film of reengineered silicon that can be applied as a transistor channel enhancement to CMOS-type transistors. Its customers include foundries, integrated device manufacturers, fabless semiconductor manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, and electronic design automation companies. The company was formerly known as Mears Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Atomera Incorporated in January 2016. Atomera Incorporated was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California.

About NVE

NVE Corporation develops and sells devices that use spintronics, a nanotechnology that relies on electron spin to acquire, store, and transmit information in the United States and internationally. The company manufactures spintronic products, including sensors and couplers for use in acquiring and transmitting data. Its products comprise standard sensors to detect the presence of a magnetic or metallic material to determine position, rotation, or speed for the factory automation market; and custom and medical sensors for medical devices to replace electromechanical magnetic switches. The company also offers spintronic couplers for power conversion and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market; and DC-to-DC convertors for use in power conversion systems and industrial networks for the IIoT. In addition, it undertakes contracts for research and development, and licensing of spintronic magnetoresistive random access memory technology. NVE Corporation was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.