Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) versus POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET) Head-To-Head Comparison

Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) and POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

84.6% of Lam Research shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of POET Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Lam Research shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of POET Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lam Research and POET Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lam Research	$18.44 billion	14.72	$5.36 billion	$4.88	44.52
POET Technologies	$40,000.00	23,235.52	-$56.70 million	($0.72)	-9.78

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

Profitability

This table compares Lam Research and POET Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lam Research	30.22%	62.81%	29.48%
POET Technologies	-6,625.16%	-103.46%	-52.64%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Lam Research and POET Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lam Research	0	6	28	1	2.86
POET Technologies	1	0	0	0	1.00

Lam Research presently has a consensus price target of $245.19, indicating a potential upside of 12.85%. POET Technologies has a consensus price target of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.64%. Given POET Technologies’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe POET Technologies is more favorable than Lam Research.

Volatility & Risk

Lam Research has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its share price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, POET Technologies has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lam Research beats POET Technologies on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lam Research

Lam Research Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company offers ALTUS systems to deposit conformal films for tungsten metallization applications; SABRE electrochemical deposition products for copper interconnect transition that offers copper damascene manufacturing; SOLA ultraviolet thermal processing products for film treatments; and VECTOR plasma-enhanced CVD ALD products. It also provides SPEED gapfill high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition products; and Striker single-wafer atomic layer deposition products for dielectric film solutions. In addition, the company offers Flex for dielectric etch applications; Kiyo for conductor etch applications; Syndion for through-silicon via etch applications; and Versys metal products for metal etch processes. Further, it provides Coronus bevel clean products to enhance die yield; Da Vinci, DV-Prime, EOS, and SP series products to address various wafer cleaning applications; and Metryx mass metrology systems for high precision in-line mass measurement in semiconductor wafer manufacturing. The company sells its products and services to semiconductors industry in the United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

About POET Technologies

POET Technologies Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells discrete and integrated opto-electronic solutions in Canada, the United States, Singapore, and China. It offers integration solutions based on the POET Optical Interposer, a novel platform that allows the seamless integration of electronic and photonic devices into a single multi-chip module using advanced wafer-level semiconductor manufacturing techniques. It also develops photonic integrated components. The company serves the data center, telecommunications, Internet of things and industrial sensing, automotive LIDAR, optical coherence tomography for medical devices, and virtual reality systems markets. The company was formerly known as Opel Technologies Inc. and changed its name to POET Technologies Inc. in June 2013. POET Technologies Inc. was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.