Head-To-Head Survey: Magnachip Semiconductor (NYSE:MX) vs. Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI)

Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) and Magnachip Semiconductor (NYSE:MX) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

10.6% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.3% of Magnachip Semiconductor shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Magnachip Semiconductor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and Magnachip Semiconductor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ascent Solar Technologies	-28,235.93%	-1,360.73%	-157.70%
Magnachip Semiconductor	-20.08%	-14.31%	-10.89%

Risk and Volatility

Ascent Solar Technologies has a beta of 2.54, meaning that its share price is 154% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Magnachip Semiconductor has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Ascent Solar Technologies and Magnachip Semiconductor, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascent Solar Technologies	0	0	0	0	0.00
Magnachip Semiconductor	0	1	2	0	2.67

Magnachip Semiconductor has a consensus target price of $7.50, suggesting a potential upside of 106.33%. Given Magnachip Semiconductor’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Magnachip Semiconductor is more favorable than Ascent Solar Technologies.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and Magnachip Semiconductor”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascent Solar Technologies	$460,000.00	5.54	-$17.07 million	N/A	N/A
Magnachip Semiconductor	$219.52 million	0.62	-$36.62 million	($1.16)	-3.13

Ascent Solar Technologies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Magnachip Semiconductor.

Summary

Magnachip Semiconductor beats Ascent Solar Technologies on 9 of the 12 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 Magnachip Semiconductor

Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and supplies analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions for communications, the Internet of Things, consumer, computing, industrial, and automotive applications. It provides display solutions, including source and gate drivers, and timing controllers that cover a range of flat panel displays used in mobile communications, automotive, entertainment devices, monitors, notebook PCs, tablet PC and TVs applied with liquid crystal display, organic light emitting diodes (OLED), and micro light emitting diode (Micro LED) panel. The company also offers metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors, insulated-gate bipolar transistors, AC-DC converters, DC-DC converters, LED drivers, regulators, and power management integrated circuits for a range of devices comprising televisions, smartphones, mobile phones, wearable devices, desktop PCs, notebooks, tablet PCs, and other consumer electronics, as well as for power suppliers, e-bikes, photovoltaic inverters, LED lighting, and motor drives; and OLED display driver integrated circuit products. It serves consumer, computing, communication, automotive and industrial electronics OEMs, original design manufacturers, and electronics manufacturing services companies, as well as subsystem designers in the Asia Pacific, the United States, and Europe. The company sells its products through a direct sales force, as well as through a network of agents and distributors. Magnachip Semiconductor Corporation was incorporated in 2003 and is based in Cheongju-si, South Korea.