Veeco Instruments (VECO) vs. Its Rivals Critical Analysis

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) is one of 221 publicly-traded companies in the “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Veeco Instruments to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and earnings.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Veeco Instruments and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Veeco Instruments	$664.29 million	$35.39 million	98.90
Veeco Instruments Competitors	$39.42 billion	$2.53 billion	8.95

Veeco Instruments’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Veeco Instruments. Veeco Instruments is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.5% of Veeco Instruments shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.8% of shares of all “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Veeco Instruments shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.5% of shares of all “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Veeco Instruments and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Veeco Instruments	3.62%	3.81%	2.45%
Veeco Instruments Competitors	-1,266.87%	-126.22%	-3.89%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Veeco Instruments and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Veeco Instruments	0	4	3	0	2.43
Veeco Instruments Competitors	3513	12379	25822	1002	2.57

Veeco Instruments presently has a consensus target price of $50.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.39%. As a group, “Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment” companies have a potential upside of 42.70%. Given Veeco Instruments’ peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Veeco Instruments has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Risk and Volatility

Veeco Instruments has a beta of 1.41, suggesting that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Veeco Instruments’ peers have a beta of 2.80, suggesting that their average stock price is 180% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Veeco Instruments peers beat Veeco Instruments on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

Veeco Instruments Company Profile

Veeco Instruments designs and manufactures process equipment used to make semiconductors and other advanced materials. Its systems support thin-film deposition, etching, lithography and related manufacturing processes. The company’s product portfolio includes metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), ion beam and laser-processing systems. These tools serve applications in compound semiconductors, advanced packaging, data storage and scientific research. Veeco serves customers around the world through its sales and service operations.