Ouster (NYSE:OUST) vs. Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN) Head-To-Head Analysis

Ouster (NYSE:OUST) and Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ouster and Palladyne AI’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ouster	$83.28 million	5.26	-$374.11 million	($5.58)	-1.74
Palladyne AI	$6.15 million	7.44	-$115.59 million	($3.94)	-0.44

Palladyne AI has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ouster. Ouster is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Palladyne AI, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Ouster has a beta of 2.43, suggesting that its share price is 143% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Palladyne AI has a beta of 3.37, suggesting that its share price is 237% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

31.5% of Ouster shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.0% of Palladyne AI shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.8% of Ouster shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.0% of Palladyne AI shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Ouster and Palladyne AI, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ouster	0	3	2	0	2.40
Palladyne AI	0	0	0	0	N/A

Ouster presently has a consensus target price of $12.10, indicating a potential upside of 24.87%. Given Ouster’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ouster is more favorable than Palladyne AI.

Profitability

This table compares Ouster and Palladyne AI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ouster	-239.89%	-88.42%	-50.61%
Palladyne AI	-1,390.02%	-74.87%	-57.30%

Summary

Palladyne AI beats Ouster on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ouster

Ouster, Inc. provides lidar sensors for the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries in Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its products include high-resolution scanning and solid-state digital lidar sensors, analog lidar sensors, and software solutions. The company offers Ouster Sensor, a scanning sensor; and Digital Flash, a solid-state flash sensor. It also provides surround-view lidar sensors, which include Ouster Gemini, a perception platform for smart infrastructure deployments; and Blue City, a Gemini-powered solution for traffic operations, planning, and safety. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Palladyne AI

Palladyne AI Corp., a software company, focuses on delivering software that enhances the utility and functionality of third-party stationary and mobile robotic systems in the United States. Its Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) software platform enables robots to observe, learn, reason, and act in structured and unstructured environments. The company's software platform enables robotic systems to perceive their environment and quickly adapt to changing circumstances by generalizing from their experience using dynamic real-time operations without extensive programming and with minimal robot training. It serves customers from various industries, such as industrial manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, defense, infrastructure maintenance and repair, energy, aerospace and aviation, and others. The company was formerly known as Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation and changed its name to Palladyne AI Corp. in March 2024. Palladyne AI Corp. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.