Head-To-Head Contrast: GLOBALFOUNDRIES (NASDAQ:GFS) versus United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC)

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) and GLOBALFOUNDRIES (NASDAQ:GFS) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

United Microelectronics has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GLOBALFOUNDRIES has a beta of 1.54, suggesting that its stock price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares United Microelectronics and GLOBALFOUNDRIES’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Microelectronics	$223.46 billion	0.09	$1.95 billion	$0.70	12.04
GLOBALFOUNDRIES	$7.39 billion	3.02	$1.02 billion	$1.62	24.94

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

5.1% of United Microelectronics shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of United Microelectronics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for United Microelectronics and GLOBALFOUNDRIES, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Microelectronics	0	1	2	0	2.67
GLOBALFOUNDRIES	0	7	7	0	2.50

United Microelectronics presently has a consensus price target of $8.90, indicating a potential upside of 5.58%. GLOBALFOUNDRIES has a consensus price target of $57.54, indicating a potential upside of 42.39%. Given GLOBALFOUNDRIES’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe GLOBALFOUNDRIES is more favorable than United Microelectronics.

Profitability

This table compares United Microelectronics and GLOBALFOUNDRIES’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Microelectronics	23.90%	14.80%	9.41%
GLOBALFOUNDRIES	11.82%	7.75%	4.78%

Summary

United Microelectronics beats GLOBALFOUNDRIES on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Microelectronics

United Microelectronics Corporation operates as a semiconductor wafer foundry in Taiwan, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Japan, 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. The company was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.

About GLOBALFOUNDRIES

GLOBALFOUNDRIES Inc. operates as a semiconductor foundry worldwide. The company manufactures a range of semiconductor devices, including microprocessors, mobile application processors, baseband processors, network processors, radio frequency modems, microcontrollers, and power management units; and offers mainstream wafer fabrication services and technologies. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Malta, New York.