Analyzing Himax Technologies (NASDAQ:HIMX) & POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET)

POET Technologies (NASDAQ:POET) and Himax Technologies (NASDAQ:HIMX) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares POET Technologies and Himax Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
POET Technologies	$40,000.00	18,416.79	-$56.70 million	($0.72)	-7.75
Himax Technologies	$832.17 million	1.62	$43.94 million	$0.26	29.69

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

Risk and Volatility

POET Technologies has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Himax Technologies has a beta of 1.86, suggesting that its share price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares POET Technologies and Himax Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
POET Technologies	-6,625.16%	-103.46%	-52.64%
Himax Technologies	5.28%	4.92%	2.59%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for POET Technologies and Himax Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
POET Technologies	1	0	0	0	1.00
Himax Technologies	0	3	0	0	2.00

POET Technologies presently has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 43.37%. Himax Technologies has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.63%. Given POET Technologies’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe POET Technologies is more favorable than Himax Technologies.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

2.0% of POET Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.8% of Himax Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of POET Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 31.5% of Himax Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Himax Technologies beats POET Technologies on 11 of the 13 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 Himax Technologies

Himax Technologies, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, provides display imaging processing technologies in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Europe, and the United States. The company operates in two segments, Driver IC and Non-Driver Products. It offers display driver integrated circuits (ICs) and timing controllers that are used in televisions, PC monitors, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, automotive, ePaper devices, industrial displays, and other products. The company also provides automotive IC solutions, including traditional driver ICs; advanced in-cell touch and display driver integration; large touch and display driver integration; and local dimming timing controllers, as well as active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) solutions, including AMOLED drivers, timing controllers, and touch controller ICs. In addition, it offers application specific IC services; liquid crystal on silicon and micro-electro mechanical system products; Power ICs; complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensor products; wafer level optics products; 3D sensing products; and ultralow power WiseEye smart image sensing products. The company markets its display drivers to panel manufacturers, mobile device module manufacturers, and manufacturers of end-use products. Himax Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Tainan City, Taiwan.