Reviewing nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) & Sumco (OTCMKTS:SUOPY)

nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) and Sumco (OTCMKTS:SUOPY) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

nLIGHT has a beta of 2.39, suggesting that its stock price is 139% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sumco has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for nLIGHT and Sumco, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
nLIGHT	0	0	2	0	3.00
Sumco	0	0	0	0	N/A

nLIGHT currently has a consensus price target of $16.00, indicating a potential upside of 50.09%. Given nLIGHT’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe nLIGHT is more favorable than Sumco.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares nLIGHT and Sumco’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
nLIGHT	$197.56 million	2.58	-$41.67 million	($1.02)	-10.49
Sumco	$3.04 billion	1.21	$453.58 million	$1.25	16.81

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.9% of nLIGHT shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Sumco shares are held by institutional investors. 6.1% of nLIGHT shares are held by company 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 nLIGHT and Sumco’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
nLIGHT	-25.62%	-19.33%	-15.89%
Sumco	7.70%	4.92%	2.93%

Summary

Sumco beats nLIGHT on 7 of the 13 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 Sumco

Sumco Corporation manufactures and sells silicon wafers for the semiconductor industry in Japan, the United States, China, Taiwan, Korea, and internationally. It provides monocrystalline ingots, as well as polished, annealed, epitaxial, junction isolated, silicon-on-insulator, and reclaimed polished wafers. The company was formerly known as Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon Corp. and changed its name to Sumco Corporation in August 2005. Sumco Corporation was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.