Critical Review: NVE (NASDAQ:NVEC) versus Entegris (NASDAQ:ENTG)

NVE (NASDAQ:NVEC) and Entegris (NASDAQ:ENTG) are both technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

NVE has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Entegris has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

NVE pays an annual dividend of $4.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Entegris pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. NVE pays out 107.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Entegris pays out 23.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for NVE and Entegris, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NVE	0	0	1	0	3.00
Entegris	1	3	7	0	2.55

Entegris has a consensus price target of $164.22, indicating a potential upside of 37.94%. Given Entegris’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Entegris is more favorable than NVE.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NVE and Entegris”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NVE	$26.33 million	21.37	$15.20 million	$3.72	31.26
Entegris	$3.20 billion	5.68	$235.60 million	$1.73	68.82

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

Profitability

This table compares NVE and Entegris’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NVE	57.64%	30.53%	29.54%
Entegris	8.18%	11.45%	5.34%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

65.9% of NVE shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of NVE shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Entegris shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

NVE beats Entegris on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NVE

NVE Corporation develops and sells devices that use spintronics, a nanotechnology that relies on electron spin to acquire, store, and transmit information in the United States and internationally. The company manufactures spintronic products, including sensors and couplers for use in acquiring and transmitting data. Its products comprise standard sensors to detect the presence of a magnetic or metallic material to determine position, rotation, or speed for the factory automation market; and custom and medical sensors for medical devices to replace electromechanical magnetic switches. The company also offers spintronic couplers for power conversion and industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market; and DC-to-DC convertors for use in power conversion systems and industrial networks for the IIoT. In addition, it undertakes contracts for research and development, and licensing of spintronic magnetoresistive random access memory technology. NVE Corporation was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

About Entegris

Entegris, Inc. develops, manufactures, and supplies microcontamination control products, specialty chemicals, and advanced materials handling solutions in North America, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia. It operates in three segments: Materials Solutions (MS); Microcontamination Control (MC); and Advanced Materials Handling (AMH). The MC segment solutions to purify critical liquid chemistries and process gases used in semiconductor manufacturing processes and other high-technology industries; integrated circuit chemical mechanical polishing solutions, high-performance etch and clean chemistries, gases and materials, and safe and materials delivery systems. The MS segment provides materials-based solutions, such as chemical mechanical planarization slurries, pads, deposition materials, process chemistries and gases, formulated cleans, etchants, and other specialty materials. The Advanced Materials Handling segment develops solutions for customers' yields by protecting critical materials during manufacturing, transportation, and storage, which include monitor, protect, transport and deliver critical liquid chemistries, wafers, and other substrates for semiconductor, life sciences and other high-technology industries. The company's customers include logic and memory semiconductor device manufacturers, semiconductor equipment makers, gas and chemical manufacturing companies, and wafer grower companies; and flat panel display equipment makers, panel manufacturers, and manufacturers of hard disk drive components and devices, as well as their related ecosystems. It serves manufacturers and suppliers in the solar and life science industries, electrical discharge machining customers, glass and glass container manufacturers, aerospace manufacturers, and manufacturers of biomedical implantation devices. Entegris, Inc. was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts.