IQE (OTCMKTS:IQEPF) versus GCT Semiconductor (NYSE:GCTS) Head-To-Head Contrast

IQE (OTCMKTS:IQEPF) and GCT Semiconductor (NYSE:GCTS) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

28.1% of GCT Semiconductor shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of GCT Semiconductor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares IQE and GCT Semiconductor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IQE	N/A	N/A	N/A
GCT Semiconductor	-1,513.33%	N/A	-231.27%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares IQE and GCT Semiconductor”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IQE	$150.84 million	2.02	-$48.79 million	N/A	N/A
GCT Semiconductor	$2.87 million	30.43	-$43.37 million	($0.81)	-1.49

GCT Semiconductor has lower revenue, but higher earnings than IQE.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for IQE and GCT Semiconductor, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IQE	0	0	0	0	0.00
GCT Semiconductor	2	0	2	0	2.00

GCT Semiconductor has a consensus price target of $3.50, indicating a potential upside of 190.46%. Given GCT Semiconductor’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe GCT Semiconductor is more favorable than IQE.

Risk and Volatility

IQE has a beta of 1.19, suggesting that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GCT Semiconductor has a beta of 1.17, suggesting that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

GCT Semiconductor beats IQE on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IQE

IQE plc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells advanced semiconductor materials. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Photonics, and CMOS++. The company manufactures and sells compound semiconductor materials for the wireless market which includes radio frequency devices for wireless communications, and photonics market, that includes applications that transmit and sense visible and infrared lights, as well as advanced semiconductor materials related to silicon. It operates in the United States, rest of the Americas, France, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the People's Republic of China, Japan, Taiwan, and rest of the Asia-Pacific. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Cardiff, the United Kingdom.

About GCT Semiconductor

GCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc., operates as a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets integrated circuits for the wireless semiconductor industry. The company provides RF and modem chipsets based on 4G LTE technology, including 4G LTE, 4.5G LTE Advanced, and 4.75G LTE Advanced-Pro. It also develops and sells cellular IoT chipsets for low-speed mobile networks such as eMTC/NB-IOT/Sigfox, and other network protocols; and 5G solutions. Its products and solutions are used in smartphones, tablets, hotspots, CPEs, USB dongles, routers, and M2M applications. The company sells its products directly or indirectly through distributors to original equipment manufacturers and original design manufacturers primarily in Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan, Europe, North America and South America. The company was formerly known as Global Communication Technology, Inc. GCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.