Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) and GCT Semiconductor (NYSE:GCTS) Head-To-Head Review

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) and GCT Semiconductor (NYSE:GCTS) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, profitability and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Amtech Systems has a beta of 2.01, suggesting that its share price is 101% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GCT Semiconductor has a beta of 1.8, suggesting that its share price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Amtech Systems and GCT Semiconductor”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amtech Systems	$79.36 million	3.70	-$30.33 million	$0.26	64.54
GCT Semiconductor	$2.87 million	67.78	-$43.37 million	($0.80)	-2.64

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

50.2% of Amtech Systems shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.1% of GCT Semiconductor shares are held by institutional investors. 26.9% of Amtech Systems shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of GCT Semiconductor shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Amtech Systems and GCT Semiconductor, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amtech Systems	0	3	1	0	2.25
GCT Semiconductor	1	0	2	0	2.33

Amtech Systems currently has a consensus price target of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 31.11%. GCT Semiconductor has a consensus price target of $3.50, suggesting a potential upside of 65.48%. Given GCT Semiconductor’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe GCT Semiconductor is more favorable than Amtech Systems.

Profitability

This table compares Amtech Systems and GCT Semiconductor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amtech Systems	4.90%	6.33%	4.00%
GCT Semiconductor	-1,301.99%	N/A	-189.45%

Summary

Amtech Systems beats GCT Semiconductor on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amtech Systems

Amtech Systems, Inc. manufactures and sells capital equipment and related consumables for use in fabricating silicon carbide (SiC), silicon power devices, analog and discrete devices, electronic assemblies, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) worldwide. The company operates through Semiconductor and Material and Substrate segments. The Semiconductor segment designs, manufactures, sells, and services thermal processing equipment, including solder reflow ovens, horizontal diffusion furnaces, and custom high-temp belt furnaces for use by semiconductor, electronics, and electro/mechanical assembly manufacturers; and diffusion and reflow thermal systems, as well as wafer cleaning equipment and related services. The Material and Substrate segment manufactures and sells consumables and machinery for lapping and polishing of materials, such as silicon wafers for semiconductor products; sapphire substrates for LED lighting and mobile devices; silicon carbide wafers for LED and power device applications; various glass and silica components for 3D image transmission; quartz and ceramic components for telecommunications devices; and medical device components, and optical and photonics applications. It also offers substrate products comprising of double-sided wafer cleaning system, entegrity head tester, substrate carrier, substrate polishing templates, double-sided lapping and polishing machines, single-sided polisher, and substrate process chemicals. The company sells its products through sales personnel, as well as a network of independent sales representatives and distributors. Amtech Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.

About GCT Semiconductor

GCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc., operates as a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets integrated circuits for the wireless semiconductor industry. The company provides RF and modem chipsets based on 4G LTE technology, including 4G LTE, 4.5G LTE Advanced, and 4.75G LTE Advanced-Pro. It also develops and sells cellular IoT chipsets for low-speed mobile networks such as eMTC/NB-IOT/Sigfox, and other network protocols; and 5G solutions. Its products and solutions are used in smartphones, tablets, hotspots, CPEs, USB dongles, routers, and M2M applications. The company sells its products directly or indirectly through distributors to original equipment manufacturers and original design manufacturers primarily in Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan, Europe, North America and South America. The company was formerly known as Global Communication Technology, Inc. GCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.