Siltronic (OTCMKTS:SSLLF) versus Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) Critical Review

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) and Siltronic (OTCMKTS:SSLLF) are both technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Veeco Instruments and Siltronic, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Veeco Instruments	0	5	1	0	2.17
Siltronic	1	2	3	1	2.57

Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus target price of $48.33, indicating a potential downside of 8.42%. Given Veeco Instruments’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Veeco Instruments is more favorable than Siltronic.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Veeco Instruments and Siltronic”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Veeco Instruments	$655.34 million	4.92	$35.39 million	$0.36	146.61
Siltronic	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Veeco Instruments has higher revenue and earnings than Siltronic.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.5% of Veeco Instruments shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Veeco Instruments shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Veeco Instruments and Siltronic’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Veeco Instruments	3.40%	3.52%	2.32%
Siltronic	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Veeco Instruments beats Siltronic on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, China, Rest of the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers laser annealing, ion beam deposition and etch, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, single wafer wet processing and surface preparation, molecular beam epitaxy, advanced packaging lithography, atomic layer deposition, and other deposition systems. Its process equipment systems are used in the production of a range of microelectronic components, including logic, dynamic random-access memory, photonics devices, power electronics, radio frequency filters and amplifiers, magnetic heads for hard disk drives, and other semiconductor devices. In addition, the company markets and sells its products to integrated device manufacturers and foundries; outsourced semiconductor assembly and test companies; and hard disk drive and photonics manufacturers, as well as research centers and universities. Veeco Instruments Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Plainview, New York.

About Siltronic

Siltronic AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides hyperpure semiconductor silicon wafers in Germany, rest of Europe, the United States, Taiwan and Mainland China, Korea, and Rest of Asia. It offers polished and epitaxial wafers. The company provides special products, such as Ultimate Silicon, an optimal crystal for polished wafers; Float zone/FZ, a wafer product based on the float zone method; and HIREF that offers low microroughness, and low-defect surface structure. Its products are used in computers, smartphones, industrial equipment, wind turbines, and cars with and without electric drives. The company was formerly known as Wacker Siltronic AG and changed its name to Siltronic AG in 2004. Siltronic AG was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Munich, Germany.