Financial Contrast: Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) and ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX)

ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX) and Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) are both technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for ASE Technology and Photronics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ASE Technology	0	1	1	1	3.00
Photronics	0	2	3	1	2.83

Photronics has a consensus target price of $49.33, indicating a potential upside of 60.07%. Given Photronics’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Photronics is more favorable than ASE Technology.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares ASE Technology and Photronics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ASE Technology	$711.21 billion	0.15	$1.28 billion	$0.86	54.43
Photronics	$849.29 million	2.14	$136.40 million	$2.84	10.85

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

6.8% of ASE Technology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.4% of Photronics shares are held by institutional investors. 22.9% of ASE Technology shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Photronics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares ASE Technology and Photronics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ASE Technology	8.52%	16.12%	6.47%
Photronics	19.05%	7.45%	6.53%

Volatility and Risk

ASE Technology has a beta of 1.66, indicating that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Photronics has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

About ASE Technology

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides semiconductors packaging and testing, and electronic manufacturing services in the United States, Taiwan, Asia, Europe, and internationally. It develops, constructs, sells, leases, and manages real estate properties; produces substrates; offers information software, equipment leasing, investment advisory, and warehousing management services; commercial complex, after-sales, and support services; manages parking lot services; processes and sells computer and communication peripherals, electronic components, telecommunications equipment, and motherboards; and imports and exports goods and technology. ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. was founded in 1984 and is based in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

About Photronics

Photronics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of photomask products and services in the United States, Taiwan, China, Korea, Europe, and internationally. It offers photomasks that are used in the manufacture of integrated circuits and flat panel displays (FPDs); and to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers, and FDP substrates. The company offers electrical and optical components. It sells its products to semiconductor and FPD manufacturers, designers, and foundries, as well as to other high-performance electronics manufacturers through its sales personnel and customer service representatives. The company was formerly known as Photronic Labs, Inc. and changed its name to Photronics, Inc. in 1990. Photronics, Inc. was incorporated in 1969 and is based in Brookfield, Connecticut.