ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) & Penguin Solutions (NASDAQ:PENG) Head-To-Head Survey

ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) and Penguin Solutions (NASDAQ:PENG) are both mid-cap technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares ACM Research and Penguin Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ACM Research	14.48%	4.08%	2.80%
Penguin Solutions	10.43%	36.71%	7.95%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for ACM Research and Penguin Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ACM Research	0	2	4	0	2.67
Penguin Solutions	1	1	7	1	2.80

ACM Research presently has a consensus price target of $122.75, suggesting a potential upside of 131.52%. Penguin Solutions has a consensus price target of $87.50, suggesting a potential upside of 43.91%. Given ACM Research’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe ACM Research is more favorable than Penguin Solutions.

Risk and Volatility

ACM Research has a beta of 2.09, meaning that its stock price is 109% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Penguin Solutions has a beta of 2.86, meaning that its stock price is 186% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ACM Research and Penguin Solutions”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ACM Research	$1.04 billion	3.30	$94.08 million	$2.10	25.25
Penguin Solutions	$1.73 billion	2.12	$180.62 million	$2.59	23.47

Penguin Solutions has higher revenue and earnings than ACM Research. Penguin Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ACM Research, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.7% of ACM Research shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.4% of ACM Research shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Penguin Solutions shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Penguin Solutions beats ACM Research on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ACM Research

ACM Research, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells single-wafer wet cleaning equipment for enhancing the manufacturing process and yield for integrated chips worldwide. It offers space alternated phase shift technology for flat and patterned wafer surfaces, which employs alternating phases of megasonic waves to deliver megasonic energy in a uniform manner on a microscopic level; timely energized bubble oscillation technology for patterned wafer surfaces at advanced process nodes, which provides cleaning for 2D and 3D patterned wafers; Tahoe technology for delivering cleaning performance using less sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide; and electro-chemical plating technology for advanced metal plating. The company markets and sells its products under the SAPS, TEBO, ULTRA C, ULTRA Fn, Ultra ECP, Ultra ECP map, and Ultra ECP ap trademarks through direct sales force and third-party representatives. ACM Research, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

About Penguin Solutions

Penguin Solutions, Inc. engages in the designing and development of enterprise solutions worldwide. It operates through three segments: Advanced Computing, Integrated Memory, and Optimized LED. It offers dynamic random access memory modules, solid-state and flash storage, and other advanced integrated memory solutions for networking and telecom, data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning applications; and supply chain services, including procurement, logistics, inventory management, temporary warehousing, programming, kitting, and packaging services. The company also provides Penguin Computing that focus on technical computing for core and cloud environments through high-performance computing and AI solutions; and Penguin Edge, an edge computing solution for embedded and wireless applications, such as high-performance products for government, health care, manufacturing, and telecommunications applications. In addition, it offers Stratus, which provides simplified, protected, and autonomous fault tolerant computing solutions in the data center and at the Edge through hardware and software services; and solutions to education, energy, financial services, government, hyperscale, and manufacturing markets. Further, the company provides LED chip products comprising blue and green LED chips based on gallium nitride, and related materials under Cree LED brand; and surface mount devices under the Cree LED XLamp and J Series brands. It sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers, enterprise, government and other end customers through direct sales force, e-commerce, customer service representatives, on-site field application engineers, independent sales representatives, distributors, integrators, and resellers. The company was formerly known as SMART Global Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Penguin Solutions, Inc. in October 2024. Penguin Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.