Analyzing Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) & Cepton (NASDAQ:CPTN)

Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) and Cepton (NASDAQ:CPTN) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Luminar Technologies and Cepton’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Luminar Technologies	$69.78 million	10.16	-$571.27 million	($1.47)	-1.14
Cepton	$13.06 million	3.72	-$48.55 million	($3.03)	-1.01

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

Profitability

This table compares Luminar Technologies and Cepton’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Luminar Technologies	-818.68%	N/A	-93.83%
Cepton	-371.83%	N/A	-47.76%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

31.0% of Luminar Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.2% of Cepton shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.3% of Luminar Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 38.2% of Cepton shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Luminar Technologies has a beta of 1.54, indicating that its stock price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cepton has a beta of 0.07, indicating that its stock price is 93% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Luminar Technologies and Cepton, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Luminar Technologies	2	2	3	0	2.14
Cepton	0	2	0	0	2.00

Luminar Technologies currently has a consensus target price of $6.39, suggesting a potential upside of 280.10%. Given Luminar Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Luminar Technologies is more favorable than Cepton.

Summary

Luminar Technologies beats Cepton on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Luminar Technologies

Luminar Technologies, Inc., an automotive technology company, provides sensor technologies and software for passenger cars and commercial trucks in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. It operates in two segments, Autonomy Solutions and Advanced Technologies and Services. The Autonomy Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and sells laser imaging, detection, and ranging sensors or lidars, as well as related perception and autonomy software solutions primarily for original equipment manufacturers in the automobile, commercial vehicle, robo-taxi, and adjacent industries. The Advanced Technologies and Services segment develops application-specific integrated circuits, pixel-based sensors, and advanced lasers. This segment also designs, tests, and provides consulting services for non-standard integrated circuits for use in automobile and aeronautics sector, as well as government spending in military and defense activities. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

About Cepton

Cepton, Inc. provides lidar-based solutions for automotive, smart cities, smart spaces, and smart industrial applications in the United States, Japan, China, and internationally. The company offers autograde lidar sensors, including Cepton Ultra, a slimmest lidar with MagnoSteer technology and proprietary ASIC chipset, enabling a combination of 300-meter range at 10% reflectivity and 0.05° resolution; Vista-X, a compact lidar solution with a range of up to 200m for long-range applications in ADAS L2+/L3, AV L4/L5, and suitable for smart infrastructure applications; and Nova, an extremely-small form factor lidar solution with a range of up to 30m for near-range applications in ADAS L2+/L3, AV L4/L5, and suitable for smart infrastructure applications. It also provides industrial grade lidar sensors, such as Vista-P, a compact lidar solution with a range of up to 200m for long-range applications in ADAS L2+/L3, AV L4/L5, and smart infrastructure applications; and Sora-P, an ultra-high scan rate, compact, and quasi line-scanning lidar solution that delivers high-fidelity profiling of objects moving at high speeds for free flow tolling and other industrial applications. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.