Financial Contrast: United Microelectronics (UMC) versus Its Rivals

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) is one of 221 publicly-traded companies in the “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare United Microelectronics to similar businesses based on the strength of its profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

United Microelectronics has a beta of 1.76, suggesting that its stock price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Microelectronics’ competitors have a beta of 2.80, suggesting that their average stock price is 180% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares United Microelectronics and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Microelectronics	31.96%	20.12%	13.53%
United Microelectronics Competitors	-1,278.97%	-126.37%	-3.98%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

5.0% of United Microelectronics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.6% of shares of all “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of United Microelectronics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of shares of all “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies are owned by 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares United Microelectronics and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Microelectronics	$7.57 billion	$1.29 billion	12.84
United Microelectronics Competitors	$39.42 billion	$2.48 billion	8.71

United Microelectronics’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than United Microelectronics. United Microelectronics is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for United Microelectronics and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Microelectronics	3	3	2	0	1.88
United Microelectronics Competitors	3505	12358	25781	999	2.57

United Microelectronics presently has a consensus target price of $36.79, suggesting a potential upside of 165.34%. As a group, “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 54.17%. Given United Microelectronics’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe United Microelectronics is more favorable than its competitors.

Dividends

United Microelectronics pays an annual dividend of $0.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. United Microelectronics pays out 28.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.0% and pay out 28.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. United Microelectronics is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

United Microelectronics competitors beat United Microelectronics on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

United Microelectronics Company Profile

United Microelectronics Corporation operates as a semiconductor wafer foundry in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides circuit design, mask tooling, wafer fabrication, and assembly and testing services. It serves fabless design companies and integrated device manufacturers. United Microelectronics Corporation was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.