Analyzing SMA Solar Technology (OTCMKTS:SMTGY) and SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG)

SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG) and SMA Solar Technology (OTCMKTS:SMTGY) are both energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for SolarEdge Technologies and SMA Solar Technology, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SolarEdge Technologies	8	16	1	0	1.72
SMA Solar Technology	0	0	0	0	0.00

SolarEdge Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $25.45, suggesting a potential downside of 26.45%. Given SolarEdge Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe SolarEdge Technologies is more favorable than SMA Solar Technology.

Profitability

This table compares SolarEdge Technologies and SMA Solar Technology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SolarEdge Technologies	-53.65%	-77.21%	-17.55%
SMA Solar Technology	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.1% of SolarEdge Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of SolarEdge Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares SolarEdge Technologies and SMA Solar Technology”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SolarEdge Technologies	$901.46 million	2.30	-$1.81 billion	($9.67)	-3.58
SMA Solar Technology	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

SMA Solar Technology has lower revenue, but higher earnings than SolarEdge Technologies.

Summary

SolarEdge Technologies beats SMA Solar Technology on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SolarEdge Technologies

SolarEdge Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells direct current (DC) optimized inverter systems for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Solar and Energy Storage. The Solar segment offers power optimizers, inverters, batteries, storage solutions, electric vehicle chargers, smart tracking solutions, and smart energy management software products; Monitoring platform, a cloud-based monitoring platform, which collects power, voltage, current, and system data sent from inverters and power optimizers; and MySolarEdge app, that enables system owners to track their real-time system production and household energy consumption. This segment also provides Designer platform, an web-based tool that helps solar professionals to plan, build, and validate residential and commercial systems; Mapper application for registering the physical layout of new PV sites installed with DC optimized inverter systems; SetApp application that activates and configurate inverters; and grid services. The Energy Storage segment provides lithium-ion cells and containerized battery systems (BESS) solutions for commercial, industrial, and utility markets; modules and racks; purpose-built components and solutions, and hardware and software tools; and pre and post sales engineering support for designing, building, and managing battery and system solutions. The company offers e-mobility products, automated machines, and UPS products; and pre-sales support, ongoing trainings, and technical support and after installation services. It sells its products through solar installers and distributors, electrical equipment wholesalers, and PV module manufacturers, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction firms. SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel.

About SMA Solar Technology

SMA Solar Technology AG, together with its subsidiaries, engages in development, production, and sale of PV and battery inverters, transformers, chokes, monitoring systems for PV systems, and charging solutions for electric vehicles in Germany and internationally. It operates through Home Solutions, Commercial and Industrial Solutions, and Large Scale and Project Solutions segments. The company offers string and central solar inverters for various module types; battery inverters for high voltage batteries, on- and off- grid applications, commercial and industrial storage solutions, large scale storage solutions, and accessories; medium-voltage technology products; and DC-DC converters. It also provides E-mobility charging solutions; monitoring and control solutions for PV systems; and energy data services, as well as digital solutions to design, operate, and service PV systems and energy systems. The company was formerly known as SMA Technologie AG and changed its name to SMA Solar Technology AG in June 2008. SMA Solar Technology AG was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Niestetal, Germany.