Head-To-Head Contrast: Amprius Technologies (NYSE:AMPX) versus American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC)

Amprius Technologies (NYSE:AMPX) and American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Amprius Technologies and American Superconductor, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amprius Technologies	1	1	8	1	2.82
American Superconductor	0	2	2	1	2.80

Amprius Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $23.00, suggesting a potential upside of 137.48%. American Superconductor has a consensus price target of $55.00, suggesting a potential upside of 80.80%. Given Amprius Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Amprius Technologies is more favorable than American Superconductor.

Volatility and Risk

Amprius Technologies has a beta of 2.33, indicating that its share price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Superconductor has a beta of 3.26, indicating that its share price is 226% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

5.0% of Amprius Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.3% of American Superconductor shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.1% of Amprius Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of American Superconductor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Amprius Technologies and American Superconductor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amprius Technologies	-35.16%	-12.63%	-9.41%
American Superconductor	42.56%	27.41%	20.63%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Amprius Technologies and American Superconductor”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amprius Technologies	$108.13 million	12.69	-$44.02 million	($0.29)	-33.40
American Superconductor	$320.87 million	4.59	$133.81 million	$3.03	10.04

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

Summary

American Superconductor beats Amprius Technologies on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amprius Technologies

Amprius Technologies, Inc. produces and sells ultra-high energy density lithium-ion batteries for mobility applications. The company offers silicon nanowire anode batteries. Its batteries are primarily used for existing and emerging aviation applications, including unmanned aerial systems, such as drones and high-altitude pseudo satellites. The company was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

About American Superconductor

American Superconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides megawatt-scale power resiliency solutions worldwide. The company operates through Grid and Wind segments. The Grid segment offers products and services that enable electric utilities, industrial facilities, and renewable energy project developers to connect, transmit, and distribute power under the Gridtec Solutions brand. It provides transmission planning services, which identify power grid congestion, poor power quality, and other risks; grid interconnection solutions for wind farms and solar power plants, power quality systems, and transmission and distribution cable systems; D-VAR systems used for controlling power flow and voltage in the AC transmission system; actiVAR system, a fast-switching medium-voltage reactive compensation solution; armorVAR system installed for reactive compensation, power factor correction, loss reduction, utility bill savings, and mitigation of common power quality concerns related to power converter-based generation and load devices; and D-VAR volt var optimization (VVO) that serves the distribution power grid market. This segment also offers ship protection systems, which reduce a naval ship’s magnetic signature; and ON board power delivery systems, power generation systems, and propulsion systems; and transformers and rectifiers systems. The Wind segment designs wind turbine systems and licenses these designs to third parties under the Windtec Solutions brand. It also supplies power electronics and software-based control systems, engineered designs, and support services; and provides customer support services to wind turbine manufacturers. This segment’s design portfolio comprises a range of drivetrains and power ratings of 2 megawatts and higher. American Superconductor Corporation was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Ayer, Massachusetts.