Reviewing Beam Global (NASDAQ:BEEM) & FTC Solar (NASDAQ:FTCI)

FTC Solar (NASDAQ:FTCI) and Beam Global (NASDAQ:BEEM) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for FTC Solar and Beam Global, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FTC Solar	1	1	4	0	2.50
Beam Global	1	2	0	1	2.25

FTC Solar presently has a consensus target price of $8.90, suggesting a potential upside of 595.31%. Beam Global has a consensus target price of $1.50, suggesting a potential upside of 110.20%. Given FTC Solar’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe FTC Solar is more favorable than Beam Global.

Volatility & Risk

FTC Solar has a beta of 1.75, indicating that its stock price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Beam Global has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

45.4% of FTC Solar shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.6% of Beam Global shares are held by institutional investors. 19.2% of FTC Solar shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Beam Global shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares FTC Solar and Beam Global’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FTC Solar	-19.76%	N/A	-41.95%
Beam Global	-64.60%	-73.59%	-41.43%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares FTC Solar and Beam Global”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FTC Solar	$99.69 million	0.23	-$79.58 million	($6.25)	-0.20
Beam Global	$26.53 million	0.61	-$27.00 million	($0.82)	-0.87

Beam Global has lower revenue, but higher earnings than FTC Solar. Beam Global is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FTC Solar, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

FTC Solar beats Beam Global on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FTC Solar

FTC Solar, Inc. engages in the provision of solar tracker systems, software, and engineering services in the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, South Africa, and Australia. The company offers a self-powered, two-panel in-portrait, and single-axis tracker solution under the Voyager brand name; and a one module-in-portrait solar tracker solution under the Pioneer brand name. Its customers include project developers and solar asset owners, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction contractors that design and build solar energy projects. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Beam Global

Beam Global, a clean-technology innovation company, engages in the design, development, engineering, manufacture, and sale of renewably energized infrastructure products and battery solutions. Its product portfolio includes EV ARC (electric vehicle autonomous renewable charger), an infrastructure product that uses integrated solar power and battery storage to provide a mounting asset and a source of power for factory installed electric vehicle charging stations; Solar Tree DCFC, an off-grid, renewably energized, and single-column mounted smart generation and energy storage system to provide a 150kW DC fast charge to one or more electric vehicles, such as electric buses, heavy-duty vehicles, agricultural equipment, public transportation, and electric vehicles used in the construction industry; and EV ARC DCFC, a DC fast charging system for charging EVs. The company is also involved in the development of EV-Standard, a lamp standard, EV charging, and emergency power product that uses an existing streetlamp's foundation and a combination of solar, wind, grid connection, and onboard energy storage to provide curbside charging; and UAV ARC, an off-grid and renewably energized product and network used to charge aerial drone (UAV) fleets. It offers its solutions for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, energy storage, energy security, disaster preparedness, street lighting, telecommunications, energy infrastructure, and outdoor media and branding industries. The company was formerly known as Envision Solar International, Inc. and changed its name to Beam Global in September 2020. Beam Global was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.