Comparing Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN) and MicroCloud Hologram (NASDAQ:HOLO)

MicroCloud Hologram (NASDAQ:HOLO) and Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

2.1% of MicroCloud Hologram shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.0% of Palladyne AI shares are held by institutional investors. 13.4% of Palladyne AI shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares MicroCloud Hologram and Palladyne AI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MicroCloud Hologram	N/A	N/A	N/A
Palladyne AI	-953.45%	-133.19%	-61.21%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares MicroCloud Hologram and Palladyne AI”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MicroCloud Hologram	$40.76 million	1.28	-$8.89 million	($1,680.00)	0.00
Palladyne AI	$7.79 million	30.71	-$72.62 million	($1.69)	-3.37

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for MicroCloud Hologram and Palladyne AI, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MicroCloud Hologram	1	0	0	0	1.00
Palladyne AI	1	1	1	0	2.00

Palladyne AI has a consensus price target of $11.50, indicating a potential upside of 102.11%. Given Palladyne AI’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Palladyne AI is more favorable than MicroCloud Hologram.

Risk and Volatility

MicroCloud Hologram has a beta of 3.25, suggesting that its stock price is 225% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Palladyne AI has a beta of 3.77, suggesting that its stock price is 277% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Palladyne AI beats MicroCloud Hologram on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MicroCloud Hologram

MicroCloud Hologram Inc. provides holographic technology services worldwide. It operates in two segments, Holographic Solutions and Holographic Technology Service. Its services include holographic light detection and ranging (LiDAR) solutions based on holographic technology, holographic LiDAR point cloud algorithms architecture design, technical holographic imaging solutions, holographic LiDAR sensor chip design, and holographic vehicle intelligent vision technology to service customers that provide holographic advanced driver assistance systems. The company also provides holographic digital twin technology services and has a proprietary holographic digital twin technology resource library, which captures shapes and objects in 3D holographic form by utilizing a combination of holographic digital twin software, digital content, spatial data-driven data science, holographic digital cloud algorithm, and holographic 3D capture technology. In addition, it distributes holographic hardware. The company is headquartered in Shenzhen, China.

About Palladyne AI

Palladyne AI Corp., a software company, focuses on delivering software that enhances the utility and functionality of third-party stationary and mobile robotic systems in the United States. Its Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) software platform enables robots to observe, learn, reason, and act in structured and unstructured environments. The company's software platform enables robotic systems to perceive their environment and quickly adapt to changing circumstances by generalizing from their experience using dynamic real-time operations without extensive programming and with minimal robot training. It serves customers from various industries, such as industrial manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, defense, infrastructure maintenance and repair, energy, aerospace and aviation, and others. The company was formerly known as Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation and changed its name to Palladyne AI Corp. in March 2024. Palladyne AI Corp. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.