nLight (NASDAQ:LASR – Get Free Report) and Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX – Get Free Report) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
83.9% of nLight shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.6% of Lam Research shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of nLight shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Lam Research shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares nLight and Lam Research”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| nLight | $261.33 million | 14.75 | -$23.47 million | ($0.30) | -227.84 |
| Lam Research | $18.44 billion | 27.66 | $5.36 billion | $5.30 | 76.95 |
Lam Research has higher revenue and earnings than nLight. nLight is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lam Research, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares nLight and Lam Research’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| nLight | -5.08% | -4.18% | -3.20% |
| Lam Research | 30.94% | 66.21% | 31.61% |
Volatility and Risk
nLight has a beta of 2.31, suggesting that its share price is 131% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lam Research has a beta of 1.85, suggesting that its share price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for nLight and Lam Research, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| nLight | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 2.82 |
| Lam Research | 0 | 6 | 28 | 0 | 2.82 |
nLight presently has a consensus target price of $75.50, suggesting a potential upside of 10.46%. Lam Research has a consensus target price of $345.39, suggesting a potential downside of 15.31%. Given nLight’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe nLight is more favorable than Lam Research.
Summary
Lam Research beats nLight on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About nLight
nLIGHT, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications. It sells its products through direct sales force in the United States, China, South Korea, and European countries, as well as through independent sales representatives and distributors in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. The company was formerly known as nLight Photonics Corporation and changed its name to nLIGHT, Inc. in January 2016. nLIGHT, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Camas, Washington.
About Lam Research
Lam Research Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company offers ALTUS systems to deposit conformal films for tungsten metallization applications; SABRE electrochemical deposition products for copper interconnect transition that offers copper damascene manufacturing; SOLA ultraviolet thermal processing products for film treatments; and VECTOR plasma-enhanced CVD ALD products. It also provides SPEED gapfill high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition products; and Striker single-wafer atomic layer deposition products for dielectric film solutions. In addition, the company offers Flex for dielectric etch applications; Kiyo for conductor etch applications; Syndion for through-silicon via etch applications; and Versys metal products for metal etch processes. Further, it provides Coronus bevel clean products to enhance die yield; Da Vinci, DV-Prime, EOS, and SP series products to address various wafer cleaning applications; and Metryx mass metrology systems for high precision in-line mass measurement in semiconductor wafer manufacturing. The company sells its products and services to semiconductors industry in the United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.
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