Contrasting Mirion Technologies (NYSE:MIR) and nLight (NASDAQ:LASR)

nLight (NASDAQ:LASR) and Mirion Technologies (NYSE:MIR) are both mid-cap technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.9% of nLight shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.5% of Mirion Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of nLight shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Mirion Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares nLight and Mirion Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
nLight	-4.02%	-2.83%	-2.26%
Mirion Technologies	2.69%	6.82%	3.62%

Risk & Volatility

nLight has a beta of 2.46, suggesting that its share price is 146% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mirion Technologies has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for nLight and Mirion Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
nLight	1	1	9	1	2.83
Mirion Technologies	0	2	7	1	2.90

nLight presently has a consensus price target of $82.06, indicating a potential upside of 124.75%. Mirion Technologies has a consensus price target of $24.88, indicating a potential upside of 30.82%. Given nLight’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe nLight is more favorable than Mirion Technologies.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares nLight and Mirion Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
nLight	$261.33 million	8.06	-$23.47 million	($0.25)	-146.04
Mirion Technologies	$925.40 million	5.12	$28.80 million	$0.12	158.46

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

Summary

Mirion Technologies beats nLight on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About nLight

nLIGHT, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications. It sells its products through direct sales force in the United States, China, South Korea, and European countries, as well as through independent sales representatives and distributors in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. The company was formerly known as nLight Photonics Corporation and changed its name to nLIGHT, Inc. in January 2016. nLIGHT, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Camas, Washington.

About Mirion Technologies

Mirion Technologies, Inc. provides radiation detection, measurement, analysis, and monitoring products and services in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Finland, China, Belgium, Netherlands, Estonia, South Korea, and Japan. It operates through two segments, Medical and Technologies. The Medical segment offers radiation oncology quality assurance and dosimetry solutions; patient safety solutions for diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy centers; radiation therapy quality assurance solutions for calibrating and verifying imaging and treatment accuracy; and radionuclide therapy products for nuclear medicine applications, such as shielding, product handling, medical imaging furniture, and rehabilitation products. This segment supports applications in medical diagnostics, cancer treatment, practitioner safety, and rehabilitation. The Technologies segment focuses on addressing critical radiation safety, measurement, and analysis applications; and provides personal radiation detection, identification equipment, and analysis tools. The company's products and solutions also include nuclear medicines, dosimeters, contamination and clearance monitors, reactor instrumentation and control equipment and systems, medical and industrial imaging systems and related accessories, alpha spectroscopy instruments, alpha/beta counting instruments, and gamma spectroscopy detector systems; and electrical penetration, cancer diagnostics, software, and other services. It serves hospitals, clinics and urgent care facilities, dental and veterinary offices, radiation treatment facilities, OEMs for radiation therapy, laboratories, military organizations, government agencies, industrial companies, power and utility companies, reactor design firms, and NPPs. The company was formerly known as Global Monitoring Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Mirion Technologies, Inc. in January 2006. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.