Critical Survey: IQE (OTCMKTS:IQEPF) versus Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH)

Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH) and IQE (OTCMKTS:IQEPF) are both technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

72.1% of Enphase Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Enphase Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Enphase Energy and IQE, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Enphase Energy	3	11	9	0	2.26
IQE	0	0	2	0	3.00

Enphase Energy currently has a consensus price target of $45.79, suggesting a potential upside of 22.94%. Given Enphase Energy’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Enphase Energy is more favorable than IQE.

Profitability

This table compares Enphase Energy and IQE’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Enphase Energy	10.09%	13.31%	4.66%
IQE	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Enphase Energy and IQE”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Enphase Energy	$1.47 billion	3.34	$172.13 million	$1.00	37.25
IQE	$128.31 million	4.98	-$48.39 million	N/A	N/A

Enphase Energy has higher revenue and earnings than IQE.

Risk and Volatility

Enphase Energy has a beta of 1.64, indicating that its stock price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IQE has a beta of 1.68, indicating that its stock price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Enphase Energy beats IQE on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Enphase Energy

Enphase Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells home energy solutions for the solar photovoltaic industry in the United States and internationally. The company offers semiconductor-based microinverter, which converts energy at the individual solar module level and combines with its proprietary networking and software technologies to provide energy monitoring and control. It also provides microinverter units and related accessories, an IQ gateway; IQ batteries; the cloud-based Enlighten monitoring service; storage solutions; and electric vehicle charging solutions, as well as design, proposal, permitting, and lead generation services. The company sells its solutions to solar distributors; and directly to large installers, original equipment manufacturers, strategic partners, and homeowners, as well as through its legacy product upgrade program or online store. Enphase Energy, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

About IQE

IQE plc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells advanced semiconductor materials. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Photonics, and CMOS++. The company manufactures and sells compound semiconductor materials for the wireless market which includes radio frequency devices for wireless communications, and photonics market, that includes applications that transmit and sense visible and infrared lights, as well as advanced semiconductor materials related to silicon. It operates in the United States, rest of the Americas, France, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the People's Republic of China, Japan, Taiwan, and rest of the Asia-Pacific. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Cardiff, the United Kingdom.