Hesai Group (NASDAQ:HSAI) versus Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) Financial Survey

Avnet (NASDAQ:AVT) and Hesai Group (NASDAQ:HSAI) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Avnet has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hesai Group has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Avnet and Hesai Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avnet	1	2	2	1	2.50
Hesai Group	0	1	2	1	3.00

Avnet presently has a consensus target price of $93.25, suggesting a potential upside of 4.02%. Hesai Group has a consensus target price of $23.50, suggesting a potential upside of 71.66%. Given Hesai Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Hesai Group is more favorable than Avnet.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.8% of Avnet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.5% of Hesai Group shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of Avnet shares are held by 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.

Profitability

This table compares Avnet and Hesai Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avnet	1.21%	9.57%	3.47%
Hesai Group	14.77%	5.52%	4.47%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Avnet and Hesai Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Avnet	$27.63 billion	0.27	$334.39 million	$3.99	22.47
Hesai Group	$3.34 billion	0.57	$62.33 million	$0.41	33.39

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

Summary

Hesai Group beats Avnet on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Avnet

Avnet, Inc., distributes electronic component technology. The company operates through two segments, Electronic Components and Farnell. The Electronic Components segment markets, sells, and distributes semiconductors; interconnect, passive, and electromechanical components; and other integrated components from electronic component manufacturers. It also offers design chain support that provides engineers with technical design solutions; engineering and technical resources to support product design, bill of materials development, and technical education and training; and supply chain solutions that provide support and logistical services to original equipment manufacturers, electronic manufacturing service providers, and electronic component manufacturers. In addition, this segment provides embedded solutions, such as technical design, integration, and assembly of embedded products, systems, and solutions primarily for industrial applications, as well as embedded display solutions comprising touch and passive displays; and develops and manufactures standard board and industrial subsystems, and application-specific devices that enable it to produce systems tailored to specific customer requirements. This segment serves various markets, such as automotive, medical, defense, aerospace, telecommunications, industrial, and digital editing. The Farnell segment distributes kits, tools, and electronic and industrial automation components, as well as test and measurement products to engineers and entrepreneurs. It has operations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Avnet, Inc. was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.

About Hesai Group

Hesai Group, through with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of three-dimensional light detection and ranging solutions (LiDAR). Its LiDAR products are used in passenger and commercial vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems; autonomous passenger and freight mobility services; and other applications, such as delivery robots, street sweeping robots, and logistics robots in restricted areas. Hesai Group was founded in 2014 and is based in Shanghai, China.