Financial Contrast: SemiLEDS (NASDAQ:LEDS) versus Peraso (NASDAQ:PRSO)

Peraso (NASDAQ:PRSO) and SemiLEDS (NASDAQ:LEDS) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.6% of Peraso shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.3% of SemiLEDS shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Peraso shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 58.5% of SemiLEDS shares are held by company 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 and Volatility

Peraso has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SemiLEDS has a beta of 1.58, suggesting that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Peraso and SemiLEDS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Peraso	-85.63%	-223.38%	-153.27%
SemiLEDS	-3.92%	-43.09%	-6.39%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Peraso and SemiLEDS”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Peraso	$12.19 million	0.71	-$4.75 million	($0.68)	-0.85
SemiLEDS	$43.01 million	0.39	-$1.13 million	($0.13)	-15.69

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Peraso and SemiLEDS, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Peraso	1	0	2	1	2.75
SemiLEDS	1	0	0	0	1.00

Peraso presently has a consensus target price of $3.08, indicating a potential upside of 435.30%. Given Peraso’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Peraso is more favorable than SemiLEDS.

Summary

SemiLEDS beats Peraso on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Peraso

Peraso Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, develops, markets, and sells semiconductor devices and modules. The company's products include millimeter wavelength (mmWave) ICs, including baseband IC, various mmWave radio frequency, integrated circuits, as well as associated antenna technology; and mmWave antenna modules. It also provides accelerator engine products, comprising bandwidth engine for high-performance applications where throughput is critical; and quad partition rate, which allows for parallel accesses to multiple partitions of the memory simultaneously. Its mmWave products are used for various applications, such as multi-gigabit point-to-point (PtMP) wireless links; and fixed wireless access in the 5G operating bands, as well as consumer applications, such as wireless video streaming, and untethered augmented reality and virtual reality. The company also licenses intellectual property, as well as offers non-recurring engineering services. It markets its products through direct sales personnel, as well as sells representatives and distributors. The company was formerly knowns as MoSys, Inc. and changed its name to Peraso Inc. in December 2021. Peraso Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in San Jose, California.

About SemiLEDS

SemiLEDs Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells light emitting diode (LED) chips, LED components, and LED modules and systems in the United States, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and internationally. The company also sells enhanced vertical, LED product series in blue, white, green, and UV; LED chips to packagers or distributors; and lighting products primarily to original design manufacturers of lighting products and the end-users of lighting devices, as well as packs and sells its LED chips. Its products are used for general lighting applications, including commercial, industrial, and residential lighting; and specialty industrial applications, such as ultraviolet or UV, curing of polymers, LED light therapy in medical/cosmetic applications, counterfeit detection, germicidal and viricidal devices LED lighting for horticulture applications, architectural lighting, and entertainment lighting. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Chu-Nan, Taiwan.