Reviewing United Microelectronics (UMC) and Its Peers

United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) is one of 221 public companies in the “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare United Microelectronics to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, profitability and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares United Microelectronics and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Microelectronics	$7.57 billion	$1.29 billion	12.84
United Microelectronics Competitors	$39.42 billion	$2.48 billion	8.71

United Microelectronics’ rivals have higher revenue and earnings than United Microelectronics. United Microelectronics is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

5.0% of United Microelectronics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.6% of shares of all “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of United Microelectronics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of shares of all “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for United Microelectronics and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Microelectronics	3	3	2	0	1.88
United Microelectronics Competitors	3505	12358	25781	999	2.57

United Microelectronics presently has a consensus price target of $36.79, indicating a potential upside of 165.34%. As a group, “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 54.17%. Given United Microelectronics’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe United Microelectronics is more favorable than its rivals.

Volatility and Risk

United Microelectronics has a beta of 1.76, meaning that its share price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Microelectronics’ rivals have a beta of 2.80, meaning that their average share price is 180% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

United Microelectronics pays an annual dividend of $0.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. United Microelectronics pays out 28.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.0% and pay out 28.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. United Microelectronics is clearly a better dividend stock than its rivals, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares United Microelectronics and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Microelectronics	31.96%	20.12%	13.53%
United Microelectronics Competitors	-1,278.97%	-126.37%	-3.98%

Summary

United Microelectronics rivals beat United Microelectronics on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About United Microelectronics

United Microelectronics Corporation operates as a semiconductor wafer foundry in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides circuit design, mask tooling, wafer fabrication, and assembly and testing services. It serves fabless design companies and integrated device manufacturers. United Microelectronics Corporation was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.