Financial Analysis: Nitto Denko (OTCMKTS:NDEKY) and Ichor (NASDAQ:ICHR)

Nitto Denko (OTCMKTS:NDEKY) and Ichor (NASDAQ:ICHR) are both technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Nitto Denko has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ichor has a beta of 1.79, meaning that its stock price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.8% of Ichor shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Ichor shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Nitto Denko and Ichor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nitto Denko	12.94%	12.13%	9.66%
Ichor	-3.97%	0.47%	0.33%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Nitto Denko and Ichor, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nitto Denko	0	1	0	0	2.00
Ichor	1	2	6	1	2.70

Ichor has a consensus target price of $85.89, indicating a potential upside of 43.36%. Given Ichor’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ichor is more favorable than Nitto Denko.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Nitto Denko and Ichor”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nitto Denko	$6.83 billion	2.27	$881.09 million	$1.31	17.47
Ichor	$947.65 million	2.37	-$52.78 million	($1.17)	-51.21

Nitto Denko has higher revenue and earnings than Ichor. Ichor is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nitto Denko, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Ichor beats Nitto Denko on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nitto Denko

Nitto Denko Corporation primarily engages in the adhesive tapes business in Japan, the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. It provides double sided tapes, surface protective films, sealing materials, masking tapes, membranes, FPD/touch panel related products, gasket materials, semiconductor manufacturing process products, flexible printed circuit boards, porous films/breathable materials, and packaging tapes. The company also offers functional thermal transfer systems, such as labels, barcode label printers, and label printing software; tapes for electrical and electronic equipment; dust removal products for clean rooms; fluoroplastic sheets and tapes, and fluoroplastic porous films; and materials for housing and construction. In addition, it provides medical products, including transdermal therapeutic systems, athletic tapes, medical adhesive tapes for wearable devices and body sensors, adhesive tapes, and particles for nucleic acid synthesis. The company offers its products to automotive and transportation, housing/housing equipment, infrastructure, material, home appliance and electrical, display, electronic device, medical, packaging, and consumer/personal care industries. Nitto Denko Corporation was incorporated in 1918 and is headquartered in Osaka, Japan.

About Ichor

Ichor Holdings, Ltd. engages in the design, engineering, and manufacture of fluid delivery subsystems and components for semiconductor capital equipment in the United States and internationally. It primarily offers gas and chemical delivery systems and subsystems that are used in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices. The company's gas delivery subsystems deliver, monitor, and control gases used in semiconductor manufacturing processes, such as etch and deposition; and chemical delivery subsystems blend and dispense the reactive liquid chemistries used in semiconductor manufacturing processes comprising chemical-mechanical planarization, electroplating, and cleaning. In addition, it manufactures precision machined components, weldments, electron beam, laser-welded components, precision vacuum and hydrogen brazing, surface treatment technologies, and other proprietary products. The company primarily markets its products to equipment OEMs in the semiconductor equipment market in Japan. Ichor Holdings, Ltd. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.