Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) versus Pixelworks (NASDAQ:PXLW) Head-To-Head Review

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and Pixelworks (NASDAQ:PXLW) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Micron Technology and Pixelworks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Micron Technology	13.34%	8.32%	5.49%
Pixelworks	-50.01%	-93.16%	-30.04%

Risk & Volatility

Micron Technology has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pixelworks has a beta of 1.63, suggesting that its share price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Micron Technology and Pixelworks, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Micron Technology	1	2	23	0	2.85
Pixelworks	0	0	3	0	3.00

Micron Technology currently has a consensus price target of $134.96, indicating a potential upside of 45.96%. Pixelworks has a consensus price target of $2.17, indicating a potential upside of 153.71%. Given Pixelworks’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Pixelworks is more favorable than Micron Technology.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Micron Technology and Pixelworks”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Micron Technology	$25.11 billion	4.10	$778.00 million	$3.47	26.65
Pixelworks	$59.68 million	0.84	-$26.18 million	($0.47)	-1.82

Micron Technology has higher revenue and earnings than Pixelworks. Pixelworks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Micron Technology, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.8% of Micron Technology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.4% of Pixelworks shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Micron Technology shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.7% of Pixelworks shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Micron Technology beats Pixelworks on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Micron Technology

Micron Technology, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells memory and storage products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Compute and Networking Business Unit, Mobile Business Unit, Embedded Business Unit, and Storage Business Unit. It provides memory and storage technologies comprising dynamic random access memory semiconductor devices with low latency that provide high-speed data retrieval; non-volatile and re-writeable semiconductor storage devices; and non-volatile re-writable semiconductor memory devices that provide fast read speeds under the Micron and Crucial brands, as well as through private labels. The company offers memory products for the cloud server, enterprise, client, graphics, networking, industrial, and automotive markets, as well as for smartphone and other mobile-device markets; SSDs and component-level solutions for the enterprise and cloud, client, and consumer storage markets; discrete storage products in component and wafers; and memory and storage products for the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets. It markets its products through its direct sales force, independent sales representatives, distributors, and retailers; and web-based customer direct sales channel, as well as through channel and distribution partners. Micron Technology, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.

About Pixelworks

Pixelworks, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and markets semiconductor and software solutions for mobile, home and enterprise, and cinema markets in the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Europe. The company offers imageprocessor integrated circuits, such as embedded microprocessors, digital signal processing technology, and software that control the operations and signal processing within high-end display systems; visual processor integrated circuits that works with a mobile application processor; and transcoder integrated circuits which includes software that control the operations and signal processing for converting multiple bitrates, resolutions and codecs to provide bandwidth efficient video transmissions based on industry standard protocols. It also provides software and platform licensing products comprising Pixelworks Pro Software, a software that enables development and customize the look and feel of mobile products by use of various features, such as absolute color accuracy, HDR tone mapping, SDR-to-HDR conversion, and others; and TrueCut Motion Platform, content creation tool which provides the ability to dial in a motion look on a shot-by-shot basis. The company distributes its products to integrators, branded manufacturers, and branded suppliers. Pixelworks, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Portland, Oregon.