Contrasting SCI Engineered Materials (OTCMKTS:SCIA) & Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC)

SCI Engineered Materials (OTCMKTS:SCIA) and Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for SCI Engineered Materials and Lattice Semiconductor, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SCI Engineered Materials	0	0	0	0	0.00
Lattice Semiconductor	1	1	13	0	2.80

Lattice Semiconductor has a consensus price target of $104.07, indicating a potential downside of 11.56%. Given Lattice Semiconductor’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lattice Semiconductor is more favorable than SCI Engineered Materials.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares SCI Engineered Materials and Lattice Semiconductor”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SCI Engineered Materials	$19.61 million	1.13	$1.75 million	$0.38	13.16
Lattice Semiconductor	$523.26 million	30.78	$3.08 million	$0.02	5,883.75

Lattice Semiconductor has higher revenue and earnings than SCI Engineered Materials. SCI Engineered Materials is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lattice Semiconductor, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

SCI Engineered Materials has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lattice Semiconductor has a beta of 1.66, suggesting that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

27.6% of SCI Engineered Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Lattice Semiconductor shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.3% of SCI Engineered Materials shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Lattice Semiconductor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares SCI Engineered Materials and Lattice Semiconductor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SCI Engineered Materials	8.91%	12.67%	9.93%
Lattice Semiconductor	0.59%	5.60%	4.69%

Summary

Lattice Semiconductor beats SCI Engineered Materials on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SCI Engineered Materials

SCI Engineered Materials, Inc. engages in the manufacture and supply of materials for physical vapor deposition thin film applications in the United States. It offers ceramic targets, metal sputtering targets, and backing plates for use in semiconductors, thin film solar, flat panel displays, defense, aerospace, and photonics industries. The company’s materials are used to produce nano layers of metals and oxides for advanced material systems; and in applying decorative coatings for end uses, such as sink faucets to produce various electronic, photonic, and semiconductor products. It serves domestic and multi-national corporations, universities, and research institutions. The company was formerly known as Superconductive Components, Inc. and changed its name to SCI Engineered Materials, Inc. in 2007. SCI Engineered Materials, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

About Lattice Semiconductor

Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops and sells semiconductor products in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The company offers field programmable gate arrays that consist of four product families, including the Lattice Certus and ECP, Mach, iCE, and CrossLink. It also provides video connectivity application specific standard products. In addition, the company licenses its technology portfolio through standard IP and IP core licensing, patent monetization, and IP services. It sells its products directly to customers, and indirectly through a network of independent manufacturers' representatives and independent distributors. The company primarily serves original equipment manufacturers in the communications and computing, consumer, and industrial, and automotive markets. Lattice Semiconductor Corporation was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon.