Comparing Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) & Ceva (NASDAQ:CEVA)

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) and Ceva (NASDAQ:CEVA) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Lam Research and Ceva, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lam Research	0	6	28	0	2.82
Ceva	1	1	9	0	2.73

Lam Research presently has a consensus price target of $334.43, suggesting a potential downside of 11.78%. Ceva has a consensus price target of $41.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.12%. Given Ceva’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ceva is more favorable than Lam Research.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.6% of Lam Research shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.4% of Ceva shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Lam Research shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Ceva 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.

Risk & Volatility

Lam Research has a beta of 1.85, meaning that its stock price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ceva has a beta of 2, meaning that its stock price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Lam Research and Ceva’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lam Research	30.94%	66.21%	31.61%
Ceva	-10.47%	-3.42%	-2.98%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lam Research and Ceva”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lam Research	$18.44 billion	25.72	$5.36 billion	$5.30	71.53
Ceva	$109.60 million	10.76	-$10.64 million	($0.45)	-94.04

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

Summary

Lam Research beats Ceva on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lam Research

Lam Research Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company offers ALTUS systems to deposit conformal films for tungsten metallization applications; SABRE electrochemical deposition products for copper interconnect transition that offers copper damascene manufacturing; SOLA ultraviolet thermal processing products for film treatments; and VECTOR plasma-enhanced CVD ALD products. It also provides SPEED gapfill high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition products; and Striker single-wafer atomic layer deposition products for dielectric film solutions. In addition, the company offers Flex for dielectric etch applications; Kiyo for conductor etch applications; Syndion for through-silicon via etch applications; and Versys metal products for metal etch processes. Further, it provides Coronus bevel clean products to enhance die yield; Da Vinci, DV-Prime, EOS, and SP series products to address various wafer cleaning applications; and Metryx mass metrology systems for high precision in-line mass measurement in semiconductor wafer manufacturing. The company sells its products and services to semiconductors industry in the United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

About Ceva

CEVA, Inc. provides silicon and software IP solutions to semiconductor and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) companies worldwide. Its 5G mobile and infrastructure products include Ceva-XC vector digital signal processors (DSPs) for 5G handsets, 5G RAN, and general-purpose baseband processing; PentaG-RAN, an open ran platform for base station and radio; and PentaG2 – 5G NR modem platform for UE, as well as for non-handset 5G vertical markets, such as fixed wireless access, industry 4.0, robotics, and AR/VR devices. The company’s wireless IoT products comprise RivieraWaves’ Bluetooth 5dual mode and low energy platforms, RivieraWaves’ Wi-Fi platforms, ultra-wide band platforms, and Cellular IoT and RedCap platforms, as well as sense and inference processors and platforms consist of NeuPro-M neural processing unit (NPU) family; SensPro2 sensor hub AI platforms addressing imaging, vision, powertrain, and applications, including DSP processors, AI accelerators, and a software portfolio; and Ceva-BX1 and Ceva-BX2 audio AI DSPs. Its sensing and audio software comprise RealSpace spatial audio software package; WhisPro speech recognition; ClearVox, a voice front-end software package for voice-enabled devices; and CDNN, a neural network graph compiler that enables AI developers to automatically compile, optimize, and run pre-trained networks onto embedded devices. The company’s application software IP are licensed primarily to OEMs who embed it in their system on chip designs. It delivers AI DSPs and NPUs in the form of a hardware description language definition; and offers development platforms, software development kits, and software debug tools, which facilitate system design, debug, and software development. The company licenses its technology through a direct sales force. CEVA, Inc. was formerly known as ParthusCeva, Inc. and changed its name to CEVA, Inc. in December 2003. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.