SemiLEDS (NASDAQ:LEDS – Get Free Report) and Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX – Get Free Report) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for SemiLEDS and Lam Research, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| SemiLEDS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Lam Research | 0 | 8 | 28 | 0 | 2.78 |
Lam Research has a consensus price target of $194.23, suggesting a potential downside of 12.67%. Given Lam Research’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Lam Research is more favorable than SemiLEDS.
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| SemiLEDS | $43.01 million | 0.37 | -$1.13 million | ($0.16) | -12.08 |
| Lam Research | $18.44 billion | 15.15 | $5.36 billion | $4.54 | 48.99 |
Lam Research has higher revenue and earnings than SemiLEDS. SemiLEDS is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lam Research, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
76.3% of SemiLEDS shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.6% of Lam Research shares are owned by institutional investors. 57.4% of SemiLEDS shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Lam Research shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares SemiLEDS and Lam Research’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| SemiLEDS | -2.99% | -42.61% | -6.96% |
| Lam Research | 29.66% | 60.60% | 28.00% |
Risk and Volatility
SemiLEDS has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lam Research has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its share price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Lam Research beats SemiLEDS on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About SemiLEDS
SemiLEDs Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells light emitting diode (LED) chips, LED components, and LED modules and systems in the United States, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and internationally. The company also sells enhanced vertical, LED product series in blue, white, green, and UV; LED chips to packagers or distributors; and lighting products primarily to original design manufacturers of lighting products and the end-users of lighting devices, as well as packs and sells its LED chips. Its products are used for general lighting applications, including commercial, industrial, and residential lighting; and specialty industrial applications, such as ultraviolet or UV, curing of polymers, LED light therapy in medical/cosmetic applications, counterfeit detection, germicidal and viricidal devices LED lighting for horticulture applications, architectural lighting, and entertainment lighting. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Chu-Nan, Taiwan.
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.
Receive News & Ratings for SemiLEDS Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for SemiLEDS and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
