Head-To-Head Analysis: Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN) & IonQ (NYSE:IONQ)

IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) and Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for IonQ and Canaan, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IonQ	1	4	9	0	2.57
Canaan	1	0	6	0	2.71

IonQ currently has a consensus target price of $69.92, suggesting a potential upside of 78.22%. Canaan has a consensus target price of $2.01, suggesting a potential upside of 478.77%. Given Canaan’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Canaan is more favorable than IonQ.

Risk and Volatility

IonQ has a beta of 3.3, suggesting that its stock price is 230% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canaan has a beta of 2.72, suggesting that its stock price is 172% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares IonQ and Canaan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IonQ	-553.27%	-22.29%	-13.20%
Canaan	-41.71%	-55.84%	-35.47%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.4% of IonQ shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.1% of Canaan shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of IonQ shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Canaan shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares IonQ and Canaan”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IonQ	$130.02 million	114.96	-$510.38 million	($4.66)	-8.42
Canaan	$529.73 million	0.47	-$210.27 million	($0.34)	-1.02

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

Summary

Canaan beats IonQ on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IonQ

IonQ, Inc. engages in the development of general-purpose quantum computing systems in the United States. It sells access to quantum computers of various qubit capacities. The company makes access to its quantum computers through cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Braket, Microsoft’s Azure Quantum, and Google’s Cloud Marketplace, as well as through its cloud service. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in College Park, Maryland.

About Canaan

Canaan Inc. engages in the research, design, and sale of integrated circuit (IC) final mining equipment products by integrating IC products for bitcoin mining and related components in the People's Republic of China. It is also involved in the assembly and distribution of mining equipment and spare parts. The company has operations in the United States, Australia, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Canada, Mainland China, Thailand, Sweden, and internationally. Canaan Inc. was founded in 2013 and is based in Singapore.