LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) & Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) Head to Head Comparison

LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) and Universal Display (NASDAQ:OLED) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

LightPath Technologies has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Universal Display has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for LightPath Technologies and Universal Display, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LightPath Technologies	0	1	4	0	2.80
Universal Display	0	3	5	0	2.63

LightPath Technologies presently has a consensus target price of $5.13, indicating a potential downside of 8.15%. Universal Display has a consensus target price of $190.43, indicating a potential upside of 36.91%. Given Universal Display’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Universal Display is more favorable than LightPath Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares LightPath Technologies and Universal Display’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LightPath Technologies	-30.18%	-41.68%	-19.01%
Universal Display	36.95%	15.82%	13.99%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

56.3% of LightPath Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of Universal Display shares are held by institutional investors. 14.7% of LightPath Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Universal Display shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares LightPath Technologies and Universal Display”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LightPath Technologies	$31.73 million	7.82	-$8.01 million	($0.26)	-21.46
Universal Display	$647.68 million	10.21	$222.08 million	$5.12	27.17

Universal Display has higher revenue and earnings than LightPath Technologies. LightPath Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Universal Display, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Universal Display beats LightPath Technologies on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LightPath Technologies

LightPath Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes optical components and assemblies. The company offers precision molded glass aspheric optics, molded and diamond-turned infrared aspheric lenses, and other optical components used to produce products that manipulate light; and infrared products, including catalog and custom infrared optics. Its products are used in defense products, medical devices, laser aided industrial tools, automotive safety applications, barcode scanners, optical data storage, hybrid fiber coax datacom, telecommunications, machine vision and sensors, and other sectors. The company sells its products directly to customers in Europe and Asia. LightPath Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

About Universal Display

Universal Display Corporation engages in the research, development, and commercialization of organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies and materials for use in display and solid-state lighting applications in the United States and internationally. The company offers PHOLED technologies and materials for displays and lighting products under the UniversalPHOLED brand. It is also involved in the research, development, and commercialization of other OLED device and manufacturing technologies, including FOLED that are flexible OLEDs for the fabrication of OLEDs on flexible substrates; and OVJP, an organic vapor jet printing technology. In addition, the company provides technology development and support services, including third-party collaboration and support to third parties for the commercialization of their OLED products; and contract research services in the areas of chemical synthesis research, development, and commercialization for non-OLED applications, as well as engages in the intellectual property and technology licensing activities. Universal Display Corporation was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Ewing, New Jersey.