Head-To-Head Contrast: ESS Tech (NYSE:GWH) versus Kopin (NASDAQ:KOPN)

ESS Tech (NYSE:GWH) and Kopin (NASDAQ:KOPN) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

46.8% of ESS Tech shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.0% of Kopin shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of ESS Tech shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Kopin shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for ESS Tech and Kopin, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESS Tech	1	7	0	0	1.88
Kopin	0	0	3	0	3.00

ESS Tech presently has a consensus price target of $2.63, suggesting a potential upside of 73.15%. Kopin has a consensus price target of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.52%. Given ESS Tech’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe ESS Tech is more favorable than Kopin.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares ESS Tech and Kopin”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ESS Tech	$6.30 million	3.41	-$86.22 million	($6.27)	-0.24
Kopin	$50.33 million	8.70	-$43.88 million	($0.09)	-29.89

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

Profitability

This table compares ESS Tech and Kopin’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESS Tech	-1,217.22%	-321.20%	-114.71%
Kopin	-29.47%	-66.91%	-20.69%

Volatility & Risk

ESS Tech has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kopin has a beta of 2.96, meaning that its stock price is 196% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Kopin beats ESS Tech on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ESS Tech

ESS Tech, Inc., an energy storage company, designs and produces iron flow batteries for commercial and utility-scale energy storage applications worldwide. It offers energy storage products, which include Energy Warehouse, a behind-the-meter solution; and Energy Center, a front-of-the-meter solution. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon.

About Kopin

Kopin Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, invents, develops, manufactures, and sells microdisplays, subassemblies, and related components for defense, enterprise, industrial, and consumer products in the United States, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and internationally. It offers miniature active-matrix liquid crystal displays, liquid crystal on silicon displays/spatial light modulators, organic light emitting diode displays, microLED display technologies, application specific integrated circuits, backlights, and optical lenses; and head-mounted and hand-held VR products. The company’s products are used for soldier thermal weapon rifle sights, avionic fixed and rotary wing pilot helmets, armored vehicle targeting systems, and training and simulation headsets; industrial and medical headsets; 3D optical inspection systems; and consumer augmented reality and virtual reality wearable headsets systems. Kopin Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts.