Financial Analysis: ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) vs. Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI)

Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) and ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) are both technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and ACM Research”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascent Solar Technologies	$80,000.00	344.93	-$7.83 million	($1.48)	-1.90
ACM Research	$901.31 million	5.02	$94.08 million	$2.10	33.35

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

Profitability

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and ACM Research’s 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%
ACM Research	14.48%	4.08%	2.80%

Risk and Volatility

Ascent Solar Technologies has a beta of 1.75, suggesting that its share price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ACM Research has a beta of 1.96, suggesting that its share price is 96% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.6% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.7% of ACM Research shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.4% of ACM Research shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ascent Solar Technologies and ACM Research, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascent Solar Technologies	1	1	1	0	2.00
ACM Research	0	0	5	1	3.17

Ascent Solar Technologies presently has a consensus target price of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 611.74%. ACM Research has a consensus target price of $122.75, suggesting a potential upside of 75.26%. Given Ascent Solar Technologies’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ascent Solar Technologies is more favorable than ACM Research.

Summary

ACM Research beats Ascent Solar Technologies on 12 of the 14 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 ACM Research

ACM Research, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells single-wafer wet cleaning equipment for enhancing the manufacturing process and yield for integrated chips worldwide. It offers space alternated phase shift technology for flat and patterned wafer surfaces, which employs alternating phases of megasonic waves to deliver megasonic energy in a uniform manner on a microscopic level; timely energized bubble oscillation technology for patterned wafer surfaces at advanced process nodes, which provides cleaning for 2D and 3D patterned wafers; Tahoe technology for delivering cleaning performance using less sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide; and electro-chemical plating technology for advanced metal plating. The company markets and sells its products under the SAPS, TEBO, ULTRA C, ULTRA Fn, Ultra ECP, Ultra ECP map, and Ultra ECP ap trademarks through direct sales force and third-party representatives. ACM Research, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.