Contrasting Acorn Energy (NASDAQ:ACFN) & LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH)

LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) and Acorn Energy (NASDAQ:ACFN) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for LightPath Technologies and Acorn Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LightPath Technologies	1	0	4	1	2.83
Acorn Energy	0	1	0	0	2.00

LightPath Technologies presently has a consensus target price of $14.10, suggesting a potential upside of 45.81%. Given LightPath Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe LightPath Technologies is more favorable than Acorn Energy.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

56.3% of LightPath Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.8% of LightPath Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 35.6% of Acorn Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares LightPath Technologies and Acorn Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LightPath Technologies	-37.38%	-15.55%	-6.87%
Acorn Energy	16.12%	10.06%	6.32%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares LightPath Technologies and Acorn Energy”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LightPath Technologies	$37.20 million	16.32	-$14.87 million	($0.50)	-19.34
Acorn Energy	$11.48 million	4.16	$2.51 million	$0.61	31.20

Acorn Energy has lower revenue, but higher earnings than LightPath Technologies. LightPath Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acorn Energy, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

LightPath Technologies has a beta of 1.39, indicating that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acorn Energy has a beta of 0.24, indicating that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

LightPath Technologies beats Acorn Energy on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LightPath Technologies

LightPath Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes optical components and assemblies. The company offers precision molded glass aspheric optics, molded and diamond-turned infrared aspheric lenses, and other optical components used to produce products that manipulate light; and infrared products, including catalog and custom infrared optics. Its products are used in defense products, medical devices, laser aided industrial tools, automotive safety applications, barcode scanners, optical data storage, hybrid fiber coax datacom, telecommunications, machine vision and sensors, and other sectors. The company sells its products directly to customers in Europe and Asia. LightPath Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

About Acorn Energy

Acorn Energy, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops and markets wireless remote monitoring and control systems for various markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Power Generation (PG) Monitoring and Cathodic Protection (CP) Monitoring. The PG segment provides wireless remote monitoring and control systems, and services for critical assets, which include stand-by power generators, compressors, pumps, pumpjacks, light towers, turbines, and other industrial equipment; and Internet of Things applications. The CP segment offers remote monitoring of cathodic protection systems on gas pipelines for gas utilities and pipeline companies. The company was incorporated in 1986 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.