Reviewing Hesai Group (NASDAQ:HSAI) & Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN)

Hesai Group (NASDAQ:HSAI) and Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Hesai Group and Palladyne AI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hesai Group	-25.68%	-9.83%	-7.10%
Palladyne AI	-1,390.02%	-74.87%	-57.30%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hesai Group and Palladyne AI’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hesai Group	$264.37 million	2.07	-$67.04 million	($0.51)	-8.43
Palladyne AI	$6.15 million	6.77	-$115.59 million	($3.94)	-0.40

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

Volatility and Risk

Hesai Group has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Palladyne AI has a beta of 3.37, meaning that its stock price is 237% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Hesai Group and Palladyne AI, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hesai Group	0	1	2	0	2.67
Palladyne AI	0	0	0	0	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

48.5% of Hesai Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.0% of Palladyne AI shares are held by institutional investors. 12.0% of Palladyne AI shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Hesai Group beats Palladyne AI on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Hesai Group

Hesai Group, through with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of three-dimensional light detection and ranging solutions (LiDAR). Its LiDAR products are used in passenger and commercial vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems; autonomous passenger and freight mobility services; and other applications, such as delivery robots, street sweeping robots, and logistics robots in restricted areas. Hesai Group was founded in 2014 and is based in Shanghai, China.

About Palladyne AI

Palladyne AI Corp., a software company, focuses on delivering software that enhances the utility and functionality of third-party stationary and mobile robotic systems in the United States. Its Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) software platform enables robots to observe, learn, reason, and act in structured and unstructured environments. The company's software platform enables robotic systems to perceive their environment and quickly adapt to changing circumstances by generalizing from their experience using dynamic real-time operations without extensive programming and with minimal robot training. It serves customers from various industries, such as industrial manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, defense, infrastructure maintenance and repair, energy, aerospace and aviation, and others. The company was formerly known as Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation and changed its name to Palladyne AI Corp. in March 2024. Palladyne AI Corp. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.