Critical Review: Innovative Eyewear (NASDAQ:LUCY) & Verano (OTCMKTS:VRNOF)

Verano (OTCMKTS:VRNOF) and Innovative Eyewear (NASDAQ:LUCY) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Verano and Innovative Eyewear”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Verano	$878.59 million	0.52	-$341.86 million	($0.98)	-1.29
Innovative Eyewear	$2.66 million	2.91	-$7.59 million	($1.29)	-0.70

Innovative Eyewear has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Verano. Verano is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Innovative Eyewear, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Verano has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Innovative Eyewear has a beta of 2.76, indicating that its share price is 176% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Verano and Innovative Eyewear’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Verano	-41.68%	-9.54%	-4.51%
Innovative Eyewear	-225.26%	-88.90%	-80.34%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

9.0% of Verano shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.0% of Innovative Eyewear shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.1% of Verano shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Innovative Eyewear shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Verano and Innovative Eyewear, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Verano	1	0	0	1	2.50
Innovative Eyewear	1	1	0	0	1.50

Summary

Verano beats Innovative Eyewear on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Verano

Verano Holdings Corp. operates as a vertically integrated multi-state cannabis operator in the United States. The company engages in the cultivation, processing, wholesale, and retail distribution of cannabis in Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. It offers cannabis products under the Encore, Avexia, MUV, Savvy, BITS, and Verano brands for medical and adult-use markets. The company is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Innovative Eyewear

Innovative Eyewear, Inc. develops and sells smart eyeglasses and sunglasses. The company's flagship product is Lucyd Lyte glasses that enable the wearer to listen to music, take and make calls, and use voice assistants to perform various smartphone tasks hands-free. It also offers Vyrb, a social media application that enables the user to receive and send posts through Lucyd Lyte smart glasses with voice. In addition, the company launches an application, Lucyd app for iOS/Android users. It sells its products through various e-commerce, and retail store and distribution channels. Innovative Eyewear, Inc. has a license agreement with Lucyd Ltd. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in North Miami, Florida. Innovative Eyewear, Inc. is a subsidiary of Lucyd Ltd.