Financial Analysis: Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) and Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ:SLAB)

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) and Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ:SLAB) are both technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Amtech Systems and Silicon Laboratories, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amtech Systems	0	3	1	0	2.25
Silicon Laboratories	2	5	0	0	1.71

Amtech Systems presently has a consensus target price of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 47.55%. Silicon Laboratories has a consensus target price of $218.00, suggesting a potential downside of 1.06%. Given Amtech Systems’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Amtech Systems is more favorable than Silicon Laboratories.

Profitability

This table compares Amtech Systems and Silicon Laboratories’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amtech Systems	4.90%	6.33%	4.00%
Silicon Laboratories	-4.57%	-0.66%	-0.57%

Risk & Volatility

Amtech Systems has a beta of 2.01, indicating that its share price is 101% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Silicon Laboratories has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Amtech Systems and Silicon Laboratories”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amtech Systems	$79.36 million	3.29	-$30.33 million	$0.26	57.35
Silicon Laboratories	$784.76 million	9.37	-$64.91 million	($1.18)	-186.72

Amtech Systems has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Silicon Laboratories. Silicon Laboratories is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amtech Systems, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

50.2% of Amtech Systems shares are held by institutional investors. 26.9% of Amtech Systems shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Silicon Laboratories shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Amtech Systems beats Silicon Laboratories on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amtech Systems

Amtech Systems, Inc. manufactures and sells capital equipment and related consumables for use in fabricating silicon carbide (SiC), silicon power devices, analog and discrete devices, electronic assemblies, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) worldwide. The company operates through Semiconductor and Material and Substrate segments. The Semiconductor segment designs, manufactures, sells, and services thermal processing equipment, including solder reflow ovens, horizontal diffusion furnaces, and custom high-temp belt furnaces for use by semiconductor, electronics, and electro/mechanical assembly manufacturers; and diffusion and reflow thermal systems, as well as wafer cleaning equipment and related services. The Material and Substrate segment manufactures and sells consumables and machinery for lapping and polishing of materials, such as silicon wafers for semiconductor products; sapphire substrates for LED lighting and mobile devices; silicon carbide wafers for LED and power device applications; various glass and silica components for 3D image transmission; quartz and ceramic components for telecommunications devices; and medical device components, and optical and photonics applications. It also offers substrate products comprising of double-sided wafer cleaning system, entegrity head tester, substrate carrier, substrate polishing templates, double-sided lapping and polishing machines, single-sided polisher, and substrate process chemicals. The company sells its products through sales personnel, as well as a network of independent sales representatives and distributors. Amtech Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.

About Silicon Laboratories

Silicon Laboratories Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, provides various analog-intensive mixed-signal solutions in the United States, China, Taiwan, and internationally. The company's products include wireless microcontrollers and sensor products. Its products are used in various electronic products in a range of applications for the industrial Internet of Things (IoT), including industrial automation and control, smart buildings, access control, HVAC control, and industrial wearables and power tools; smart cities applications, such as smart metering, smart street lighting, renewable energy, electric vehicle supply equipment, and smart agriculture; commercial IoT applications, including smart lighting, asset tracking, electronic shelf labels, theft protection, and enterprise access points; smart home applications, comprising home automation/security systems, smart speakers, smart lighting, HVAC control, smart cameras, smart appliances, smart home sensing, smart locks, and window/blind controls; and connected health applications, including diabetes management, consumer health and fitness, elderly care, patient monitoring, and activity tracking; as well as in commercial building automation, consumer electronics, and medical instrumentation. The company sells its products through its direct sales force, as well as through a network of independent sales representatives and distributors. Silicon Laboratories Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.