nLight (NASDAQ:LASR – Get Free Report) and Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS – Get Free Report) are both technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings for nLight and Advanced Energy Industries, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| nLight | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 2.82 |
| Advanced Energy Industries | 0 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 2.93 |
nLight presently has a consensus target price of $87.94, indicating a potential upside of 113.13%. Advanced Energy Industries has a consensus target price of $409.50, indicating a potential upside of 49.52%. Given nLight’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe nLight is more favorable than Advanced Energy Industries.
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| nLight | $261.33 million | 9.11 | -$23.47 million | ($0.25) | -165.04 |
| Advanced Energy Industries | $1.80 billion | 6.10 | $148.40 million | $5.36 | 51.10 |
Advanced Energy Industries has higher revenue and earnings than nLight. nLight is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Advanced Energy Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
nLight has a beta of 2.3, suggesting that its stock price is 130% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Advanced Energy Industries has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares nLight and Advanced Energy Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| nLight | -4.02% | -2.83% | -2.26% |
| Advanced Energy Industries | 10.77% | 20.75% | 10.39% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
83.9% of nLight shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of Advanced Energy Industries shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of nLight shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Advanced Energy Industries shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Advanced Energy Industries beats nLight on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About nLight
nLIGHT, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications. It sells its products through direct sales force in the United States, China, South Korea, and European countries, as well as through independent sales representatives and distributors in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. The company was formerly known as nLight Photonics Corporation and changed its name to nLIGHT, Inc. in January 2016. nLIGHT, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Camas, Washington.
About Advanced Energy Industries
Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. provides precision power conversion, measurement, and control solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's plasma power products offer solutions to enable innovation for semiconductor and thin film plasma processes, such as dry etch and deposition. It also provides high and low voltage power products used in a range of applications, such as semiconductor equipment, industrial production, medical and life science equipment, data centers computing, networking, and telecommunications. In addition, the company supplies sensing, controls, and instrumentation products for advanced measurement and calibration of power and temperature. Further, the company provides calibration, conversions, upgrades, and refurbishments and used equipment to companies, as well as repair services. Further, it offers warranty and after-market repair services. It offers its products through a direct sales force, independent sales representatives, channel partners, and distributors. Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
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