Financial Analysis: Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) and Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI)

Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) and Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) are both technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and Analog Devices’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ascent Solar Technologies	-4,217.19%	-85.21%	-64.83%
Analog Devices	29.79%	16.39%	11.49%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.6% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.8% of Analog Devices shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Analog Devices shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Ascent Solar Technologies has a beta of 1.75, suggesting that its share price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Analog Devices has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and Analog Devices”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascent Solar Technologies	$80,000.00	341.25	-$7.83 million	($1.48)	-1.88
Analog Devices	$11.02 billion	15.92	$2.27 billion	$8.43	42.95

Analog Devices has higher revenue and earnings than Ascent Solar Technologies. Ascent Solar Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Analog Devices, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Ascent Solar Technologies and Analog Devices, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascent Solar Technologies	1	1	1	0	2.00
Analog Devices	0	2	26	2	3.00

Ascent Solar Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 619.42%. Analog Devices has a consensus price target of $457.97, suggesting a potential upside of 26.50%. Given Ascent Solar Technologies’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Ascent Solar Technologies is more favorable than Analog Devices.

Summary

Analog Devices beats Ascent Solar Technologies on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ascent Solar Technologies

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a solar technology company, engages in the manufacture and sale of photovoltaic solar modules in the United States. The company markets and sells its products through OEMs, system integrators, distributors, retailers, and value-added resellers. It serves agrivoltaics, aerospace, satellites, near earth orbiting vehicles, and fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Thornton, Colorado.

About Analog Devices

Analog Devices, Inc. designs, manufactures, tests, and markets integrated circuits (ICs), software, and subsystems products in the United States, rest of North and South America, Europe, Japan, China, and rest of Asia. The company provides data converter products, which translate real-world analog signals into digital data, as well as translates digital data into analog signals; power management and reference products for power conversion, driver monitoring, sequencing, and energy management applications in the automotive, communications, industrial, and consumer markets; and power ICs that include performance, integration, and software design simulation tools for accurate power supply designs. It also offers amplifiers to condition analog signals; and radio frequency and microwave ICs to support cellular infrastructure; and micro-electro-mechanical systems technology solutions, including accelerometers used to sense acceleration, gyroscopes for sense rotation, inertial measurement units to sense multiple degrees of freedom, and broadband switches for radio and instrument systems, as well as isolators. In addition, the company provides digital signal processing and system products for numeric calculations. It serves clients in the industrial, automotive, consumer, instrumentation, aerospace, defense and healthcare, and communications markets through a direct sales force, third-party distributors, and independent sales representatives, as well as online. Analog Devices, Inc. was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts.