Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) vs. POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET) Critical Survey

POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET) and Kulicke and Soffa Industries (NASDAQ:KLIC) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

2.0% of POET Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Kulicke and Soffa Industries shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of POET Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.4% of Kulicke and Soffa Industries shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

POET Technologies has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares POET Technologies and Kulicke and Soffa Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
POET Technologies	N/A	-194.16%	-132.32%
Kulicke and Soffa Industries	-9.77%	-0.92%	-0.71%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares POET Technologies and Kulicke and Soffa Industries”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
POET Technologies	$470,000.00	744.91	-$20.27 million	($0.59)	-7.75
Kulicke and Soffa Industries	$706.23 million	3.29	-$69.01 million	($1.23)	-35.21

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for POET Technologies and Kulicke and Soffa Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
POET Technologies	0	0	2	1	3.33
Kulicke and Soffa Industries	0	2	3	0	2.60

POET Technologies currently has a consensus target price of $6.25, indicating a potential upside of 36.76%. Kulicke and Soffa Industries has a consensus target price of $52.40, indicating a potential upside of 20.99%. Given POET Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe POET Technologies is more favorable than Kulicke and Soffa Industries.

Summary

POET Technologies beats Kulicke and Soffa Industries on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About POET Technologies

POET Technologies Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells discrete and integrated opto-electronic solutions in Canada, the United States, Singapore, and China. It offers integration solutions based on the POET Optical Interposer, a novel platform that allows the seamless integration of electronic and photonic devices into a single multi-chip module using advanced wafer-level semiconductor manufacturing techniques. It also develops photonic integrated components. The company serves the data center, telecommunications, Internet of things and industrial sensing, automotive LIDAR, optical coherence tomography for medical devices, and virtual reality systems markets. The company was formerly known as Opel Technologies Inc. and changed its name to POET Technologies Inc. in June 2013. POET Technologies Inc. was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About Kulicke and Soffa Industries

Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells capital equipment and tools used to assemble semiconductor devices. It operates through four segments: Ball Bonding Equipment, Wedge Bonding Equipment, Advanced Solutions, and Aftermarket Products and Services (APS). The company offers ball bonding equipment, wafer level bonding equipment, wedge bonding equipment; and advanced display, die-attach, and thermocompression systems and solutions, as well as tools, spares and services for equipment. It also services, maintains, repairs, and upgrades equipment. The company serves semiconductor device manufacturers, integrated device manufacturers, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers, other electronics manufacturers, industrial manufacturers, foundry service providers, and automotive electronics suppliers primarily in the United States and the Asia/Pacific region. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.