Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) vs. Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) Head-To-Head Contrast

Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) and Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) are both energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

10.6% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.4% of Nextpower shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.2% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Nextpower shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Ascent Solar Technologies and Nextpower, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascent Solar Technologies	1	0	0	0	1.00
Nextpower	0	9	17	1	2.70

Nextpower has a consensus price target of $95.76, suggesting a potential upside of 9.91%. Given Nextpower’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Nextpower is more favorable than Ascent Solar Technologies.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and Nextpower”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascent Solar Technologies	$61,134.00	81.38	-$9.13 million	($2.92)	-0.49
Nextpower	$2.96 billion	4.37	$509.17 million	$3.85	22.63

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

Risk & Volatility

Ascent Solar Technologies has a beta of 3.52, suggesting that its share price is 252% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nextpower has a beta of 2.31, suggesting that its share price is 131% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and Nextpower’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ascent Solar Technologies	N/A	-216.56%	-98.27%
Nextpower	17.08%	35.05%	18.13%

Summary

Nextpower beats Ascent Solar Technologies on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ascent Solar Technologies

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a solar technology company, engages in the manufacture and sale of photovoltaic solar modules in the United States. The company markets and sells its products through OEMs, system integrators, distributors, retailers, and value-added resellers. It serves agrivoltaics, aerospace, satellites, near earth orbiting vehicles, and fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Thornton, Colorado.

About Nextpower

Nextpower, formerly known as Nextracker, an energy solutions company, provides solar trackers and software solutions for utility-scale and distributed generation solar projects in the United States and internationally. The company offers tracking solutions, which includes NX Horizon, a solar tracking solution; and NX Horizon-XTR, a terrain-following tracker designed to expand the addressable market for trackers on sites with sloped, uneven, and challenging terrain. It also provides TrueCapture, a self-adjusting tracker control system, which boosts solar power plant production by optimizing the position of individual tracker row in response to site features, such as varying topography and changing weather conditions; and NX Navigator, that assists solar power plant owners and operators in monitoring, controlling, and protecting their solar projects. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Fremont, California. As of March 31, 2024 Nextracker Inc. (Nextpower) was formerly a subsidiary of Flex Ltd.