Analyzing Atomera (NASDAQ:ATOM) & GCT Semiconductor (NYSE:GCTS)

Atomera (NASDAQ:ATOM) and GCT Semiconductor (NYSE:GCTS) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

30.8% of Atomera shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.1% of GCT Semiconductor shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.1% of Atomera shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of GCT Semiconductor shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Atomera and GCT Semiconductor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atomera	N/A	-84.79%	-75.99%
GCT Semiconductor	-1,078.51%	N/A	-231.58%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Atomera and GCT Semiconductor”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atomera	$60,000.00	3,730.03	-$20.17 million	($0.65)	-8.89
GCT Semiconductor	$2.87 million	66.71	-$43.37 million	($0.81)	-2.60

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

Volatility & Risk

Atomera has a beta of 2.05, indicating that its share price is 105% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GCT Semiconductor has a beta of 1.78, indicating that its share price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Atomera and GCT Semiconductor, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atomera	1	0	0	0	1.00
GCT Semiconductor	2	0	2	0	2.00

GCT Semiconductor has a consensus price target of $3.50, suggesting a potential upside of 66.27%. Given GCT Semiconductor’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe GCT Semiconductor is more favorable than Atomera.

Summary

Atomera beats GCT Semiconductor on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Atomera

Atomera Incorporated engages in the developing, commercializing, and licensing proprietary processes and technologies for the semiconductor industry in North America and the Asia Pacific. The company's lead technology is the Mears Silicon Technology, a thin film of reengineered silicon that can be applied as a transistor channel enhancement to CMOS-type transistors. Its customers include foundries, integrated device manufacturers, fabless semiconductor manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, and electronic design automation companies. The company was formerly known as Mears Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Atomera Incorporated in January 2016. Atomera Incorporated was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California.

About GCT Semiconductor

GCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc., operates as a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets integrated circuits for the wireless semiconductor industry. The company provides RF and modem chipsets based on 4G LTE technology, including 4G LTE, 4.5G LTE Advanced, and 4.75G LTE Advanced-Pro. It also develops and sells cellular IoT chipsets for low-speed mobile networks such as eMTC/NB-IOT/Sigfox, and other network protocols; and 5G solutions. Its products and solutions are used in smartphones, tablets, hotspots, CPEs, USB dongles, routers, and M2M applications. The company sells its products directly or indirectly through distributors to original equipment manufacturers and original design manufacturers primarily in Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan, Europe, North America and South America. The company was formerly known as Global Communication Technology, Inc. GCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.