Head to Head Survey: FTC Solar (NASDAQ:FTCI) and Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN)

Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) and FTC Solar (NASDAQ:FTCI) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.7% of Sunrun shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.4% of FTC Solar shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of Sunrun shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 21.0% of FTC Solar shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Sunrun and FTC Solar’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sunrun	-106.50%	19.34%	3.38%
FTC Solar	-69.25%	-549.96%	-44.59%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Sunrun and FTC Solar, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sunrun	1	8	14	1	2.63
FTC Solar	1	3	3	0	2.29

Sunrun presently has a consensus target price of $19.58, suggesting a potential downside of 0.76%. FTC Solar has a consensus target price of $9.20, suggesting a potential downside of 23.08%. Given Sunrun’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Sunrun is more favorable than FTC Solar.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sunrun and FTC Solar”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sunrun	$2.04 billion	2.25	-$2.85 billion	($11.18)	-1.76
FTC Solar	$47.35 million	3.77	-$48.61 million	($4.33)	-2.76

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

Volatility & Risk

Sunrun has a beta of 2.35, indicating that its share price is 135% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FTC Solar has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sunrun beats FTC Solar on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sunrun

Sunrun Inc. designs, develops, installs, sells, owns, and maintains residential solar energy systems in the United States. It also sells solar energy systems and products, such as panels and racking; and solar leads generated to customers. In addition, the company offers battery storage along with solar energy systems; and sells services to commercial developers through multi-family and new homes. Its primary customers are residential homeowners. The company markets and sells its products through direct-to-consumer approach across online, retail, mass media, digital media, canvassing, field marketing, and referral channels, as well as its partner network. Sunrun Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About FTC Solar

FTC Solar, Inc. engages in the provision of solar tracker systems, software, and engineering services in the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, South Africa, and Australia. The company offers a self-powered, two-panel in-portrait, and single-axis tracker solution under the Voyager brand name; and a one module-in-portrait solar tracker solution under the Pioneer brand name. Its customers include project developers and solar asset owners, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction contractors that design and build solar energy projects. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.