Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) vs. SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG) Financial Review

Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) and SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Plug Power and SolarEdge Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plug Power	-220.59%	-56.01%	-21.09%
SolarEdge Technologies	-20.29%	-29.17%	-5.62%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Plug Power and SolarEdge Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plug Power	3	7	5	2	2.35
SolarEdge Technologies	5	11	2	0	1.83

Plug Power presently has a consensus price target of $3.59, indicating a potential upside of 70.83%. SolarEdge Technologies has a consensus price target of $39.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.46%. Given Plug Power’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Plug Power is more favorable than SolarEdge Technologies.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

43.5% of Plug Power shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.1% of SolarEdge Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Plug Power shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of SolarEdge Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Plug Power has a beta of 2.21, suggesting that its share price is 121% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SolarEdge Technologies has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Plug Power and SolarEdge Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Plug Power	$709.92 million	4.13	-$1.63 billion	($1.26)	-1.67
SolarEdge Technologies	$1.18 billion	1.80	-$405.45 million	($4.50)	-7.71

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

Summary

Plug Power beats SolarEdge Technologies on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Plug Power

Plug Power Inc. develops hydrogen and fuel cell product solutions in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers GenDrive, a hydrogen-fueled proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system that provides power to material handling electric vehicles; GenSure, a stationary fuel cell solution that offers modular PEM fuel cell power to support the backup and grid-support power requirements of the telecommunications, transportation, and utility sectors; ProGen, a fuel cell stack and engine technology used in mobility and stationary fuel cell systems, and as engines in electric delivery vans; GenFuel, a liquid hydrogen fueling delivery, generation, storage, and dispensing system; GenCare, an ongoing Internet of Things-based maintenance and on-site service program for GenDrive fuel cell systems, GenSure fuel cell systems, GenFuel hydrogen storage and dispensing products, and ProGen fuel cell engines; and GenKey, an integrated turn-key solution for transitioning to fuel cell power. It also provides electrolyzers, a hydrogen generator for clean hydrogen production; liquefaction systems that provides liquid hydrogen to customers; cryogenic equipment for the distribution of liquified hydrogen, oxygen, argon, nitrogen and other cryogenic gases, including trailers and mobile storage equipment; and liquid hydrogen, an alternative fuel to fossil-based energy. The company sells its products through a direct product sales force, original equipment manufacturers, and dealer networks. Plug Power Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Latham, New York.

About SolarEdge Technologies

SolarEdge Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells direct current (DC) optimized inverter systems for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, rest of Europe, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Solar and Energy Storage. The Solar segment offers power optimizers, inverters, batteries, storage solutions, electric vehicle chargers, smart tracking solutions, and smart energy management software products; Monitoring platform, a cloud-based monitoring platform, which collects power, voltage, current, and system data sent from inverters and power optimizers; and MySolarEdge app, that enables system owners to track their real-time system production and household energy consumption. This segment also provides Designer platform, an web-based tool that helps solar professionals to plan, build, and validate residential and commercial systems; Mapper application for registering the physical layout of new PV sites installed with DC optimized inverter systems; SetApp application that activates and configurate inverters; and grid services. The Energy Storage segment provides lithium-ion cells and containerized battery systems (BESS) solutions for commercial, industrial, and utility markets; modules and racks; purpose-built components and solutions, and hardware and software tools; and pre and post sales engineering support for designing, building, and managing battery and system solutions. The company offers e-mobility products, automated machines, and UPS products; and pre-sales support, ongoing trainings, and technical support and after installation services. It sells its products through solar installers and distributors, electrical equipment wholesalers, and PV module manufacturers, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction firms. SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel.