Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) versus Magnachip Semiconductor (NYSE:MX) Critical Survey

Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) and Magnachip Semiconductor (NYSE:MX) are both technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Lattice Semiconductor has a beta of 1.79, meaning that its share price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Magnachip Semiconductor has a beta of 1.65, meaning that its share price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.1% of Lattice Semiconductor shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.3% of Magnachip Semiconductor shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Lattice Semiconductor shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.9% of Magnachip Semiconductor shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Lattice Semiconductor and Magnachip Semiconductor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lattice Semiconductor	5.58%	10.92%	8.94%
Magnachip Semiconductor	-17.26%	-5.84%	-4.10%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Lattice Semiconductor and Magnachip Semiconductor, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lattice Semiconductor	0	2	11	1	2.93
Magnachip Semiconductor	1	1	0	0	1.50

Lattice Semiconductor currently has a consensus price target of $147.46, indicating a potential upside of 32.90%. Given Lattice Semiconductor’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lattice Semiconductor is more favorable than Magnachip Semiconductor.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Lattice Semiconductor and Magnachip Semiconductor”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lattice Semiconductor	$523.26 million	29.05	$3.08 million	$0.26	426.77
Magnachip Semiconductor	$178.86 million	0.56	-$29.72 million	($0.84)	-3.28

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

Summary

Lattice Semiconductor beats Magnachip Semiconductor on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lattice Semiconductor

Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops and sells semiconductor products in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The company offers field programmable gate arrays that consist of four product families, including the Lattice Certus and ECP, Mach, iCE, and CrossLink. It also provides video connectivity application specific standard products. In addition, the company licenses its technology portfolio through standard IP and IP core licensing, patent monetization, and IP services. It sells its products directly to customers, and indirectly through a network of independent manufacturers' representatives and independent distributors. The company primarily serves original equipment manufacturers in the communications and computing, consumer, and industrial, and automotive markets. Lattice Semiconductor Corporation was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon.

About Magnachip Semiconductor

Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and supplies analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, the Internet of Things, consumer, computing, industrial, and automotive applications. It provides display solutions, including source and gate drivers, and timing controllers that cover a range of flat panel displays used in mobile communications, automotive, entertainment devices, monitors, notebook PCs, tablet PC and TVs applied with liquid crystal display, organic light emitting diodes (OLED), and micro light emitting diode (Micro LED) panel. The company also offers metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors, insulated-gate bipolar transistors, AC-DC converters, DC-DC converters, LED drivers, regulators, and power management integrated circuits for a range of devices comprising televisions, smartphones, mobile phones, wearable devices, desktop PCs, notebooks, tablet PCs, and other consumer electronics, as well as for power suppliers, e-bikes, photovoltaic inverters, LED lighting, and motor drives; and OLED display driver integrated circuit products. It serves consumer, computing, communication, automotive and industrial electronics OEMs, original design manufacturers, and electronics manufacturing services companies, as well as subsystem designers in the Asia Pacific, the United States, and Europe. The company sells its products through a direct sales force, as well as through a network of agents and distributors. Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation was incorporated in 2003 and is based in Cheongju-si, South Korea.