Contrasting ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) & Chipmos Technologies (NASDAQ:IMOS)

ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) and Chipmos Technologies (NASDAQ:IMOS) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for ACM Research and Chipmos Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ACM Research	0	1	4	0	2.80
Chipmos Technologies	0	0	0	0	0.00

ACM Research presently has a consensus target price of $29.40, indicating a potential upside of 19.12%. Given ACM Research’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe ACM Research is more favorable than Chipmos Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares ACM Research and Chipmos Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ACM Research	13.28%	9.63%	5.74%
Chipmos Technologies	5.10%	4.69%	2.56%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.8% of ACM Research shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.4% of Chipmos Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 25.0% of ACM Research shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.7% of Chipmos Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ACM Research and Chipmos Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ACM Research	$782.12 million	1.86	$103.63 million	$1.56	15.82
Chipmos Technologies	$692.20 million	0.97	$43.90 million	$0.98	19.02

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

Volatility & Risk

ACM Research has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its share price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chipmos Technologies has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ACM Research beats Chipmos Technologies on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ACM Research

ACM Research, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells single-wafer wet cleaning equipment for enhancing the manufacturing process and yield for integrated chips worldwide. It offers space alternated phase shift technology for flat and patterned wafer surfaces, which employs alternating phases of megasonic waves to deliver megasonic energy in a uniform manner on a microscopic level; timely energized bubble oscillation technology for patterned wafer surfaces at advanced process nodes, which provides cleaning for 2D and 3D patterned wafers; Tahoe technology for delivering cleaning performance using less sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide; and electro-chemical plating technology for advanced metal plating. The company markets and sells its products under the SAPS, TEBO, ULTRA C, ULTRA Fn, Ultra ECP, Ultra ECP map, and Ultra ECP ap trademarks through direct sales force and third-party representatives. ACM Research, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

About Chipmos Technologies

ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES INC. engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of high-integration and high-precision integrated circuits, and related assembly and testing services in the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and internationally. It operates through Testing; Assembly; Testing and Assembly for LCD, OLED and Other Display Panel Driver Semiconductors; Bumping; and Others segments. The company provides a range of back-end assembly and testing services, including engineering test, wafer probing, and final test of memory and logic/mixed-signal semiconductors, as well as leadframe-based and organic substrate-based package assembly services for memory and logic/mixed-signal semiconductors; and gold bumping, and testing and assembly services for LCD, OLED, and other panel display driver semiconductors. Its semiconductors are used in personal computers; office automation and consumer electronics; and communications equipment applications. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.