Analyzing Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) & Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT)

Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) and Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ultra Clean and Daqo New Energy’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ultra Clean	$2.37 billion	0.56	$40.40 million	$0.53	56.06
Daqo New Energy	$3.43 billion	0.74	$1.82 billion	$13.75	2.39

Daqo New Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Ultra Clean. Daqo New Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ultra Clean, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ultra Clean and Daqo New Energy’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ultra Clean	1.20%	10.30%	4.96%
Daqo New Energy	31.45%	16.65%	14.38%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.6% of Ultra Clean shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.4% of Daqo New Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Ultra Clean shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.3% of Daqo New Energy shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Ultra Clean has a beta of 2, suggesting that its stock price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Daqo New Energy has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ultra Clean and Daqo New Energy, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ultra Clean	0	0	4	0	3.00
Daqo New Energy	0	2	2	0	2.50

Ultra Clean currently has a consensus target price of $42.50, suggesting a potential upside of 43.05%. Daqo New Energy has a consensus target price of $51.23, suggesting a potential upside of 55.87%. Given Daqo New Energy’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Daqo New Energy is more favorable than Ultra Clean.

Summary

Daqo New Energy beats Ultra Clean on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ultra Clean

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. develops and supplies critical subsystems, components and parts, and ultra-high purity cleaning and analytical services for the semiconductor industry in the United States and internationally. The company provides ultra-clean valves, high purity connectors, industrial process connectors and valves, pneumatic actuators, manifolds and safety solutions, hoses, pressure gauges, and gas line and component heaters; chemical delivery modules that deliver gases and reactive chemicals in a liquid or gaseous form from a centralized subsystem to the reaction chamber; and gas delivery systems, such as weldments, filters, mass flow controllers, regulators, pressure transducers and valves, component heaters, and an integrated electronic and/or pneumatic control system. It also offers various industrial and automation production equipment; fluid delivery systems consist of one or more chemical delivery units, including PFA tubing, filters, flow controllers, regulators, component heaters, and an integrated electronic and/or pneumatic control system; precision robotic systems; top-plate assemblies; frame assemblies; process modules, a subsystem of semiconductor manufacturing tools that process integrated circuits onto wafers; and other high-level assemblies. In addition, the company provides tool chamber parts cleaning and coating services; micro-contamination analysis services for tool parts, wafers and depositions, chemicals, cleanroom materials, deionized water, and airborne molecular contamination; and analytical verification services for process tool chamber part cleaning. It primarily serves original equipment manufacturing customers in the semiconductor capital equipment and semiconductor integrated device manufacturing industries, as well as display, consumer, medical, energy, industrial, and research equipment industries. Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Hayward, California.

About Daqo New Energy

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp. in August 2009. Daqo New Energy Corp. was founded in 2006 and is based in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.