Comparing IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) & Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN)

Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN) and IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.1% of Canaan shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.4% of IonQ shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Canaan shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of IonQ shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Canaan and IonQ”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Canaan	$529.73 million	0.43	-$210.27 million	($0.34)	-0.93
IonQ	$130.02 million	110.97	-$510.38 million	($4.66)	-8.13

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

Volatility and Risk

Canaan has a beta of 2.71, meaning that its stock price is 171% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IonQ has a beta of 3.3, meaning that its stock price is 230% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Canaan and IonQ, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Canaan	1	0	6	0	2.71
IonQ	1	4	9	0	2.57

Canaan presently has a consensus price target of $2.01, indicating a potential upside of 532.35%. IonQ has a consensus price target of $69.92, indicating a potential upside of 84.62%. Given Canaan’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Canaan is more favorable than IonQ.

Profitability

This table compares Canaan and IonQ’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Canaan	-41.71%	-55.84%	-35.47%
IonQ	-553.27%	-22.29%	-13.20%

Summary

Canaan beats IonQ on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Canaan

Canaan Inc. engages in the research, design, and sale of integrated circuit (IC) final mining equipment products by integrating IC products for bitcoin mining and related components in the People's Republic of China. It is also involved in the assembly and distribution of mining equipment and spare parts. The company has operations in the United States, Australia, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Canada, Mainland China, Thailand, Sweden, and internationally. Canaan Inc. was founded in 2013 and is based in Singapore.

About IonQ

IonQ, Inc. engages in the development of general-purpose quantum computing systems in the United States. It sells access to quantum computers of various qubit capacities. The company makes access to its quantum computers through cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Braket, Microsoft’s Azure Quantum, and Google’s Cloud Marketplace, as well as through its cloud service. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in College Park, Maryland.