Head-To-Head Comparison: Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) vs. Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO)

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) and Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

Veeco Instruments has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Analog Devices has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Veeco Instruments and Analog Devices”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Veeco Instruments	$664.29 million	4.57	$35.39 million	$0.36	137.97
Analog Devices	$11.02 billion	17.31	$2.27 billion	$8.43	46.69

Analog Devices has higher revenue and earnings than Veeco Instruments. Analog Devices is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Veeco Instruments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Veeco Instruments and Analog Devices, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Veeco Instruments	0	4	2	0	2.33
Analog Devices	0	2	26	2	3.00

Veeco Instruments currently has a consensus price target of $61.33, indicating a potential upside of 23.48%. Analog Devices has a consensus price target of $457.97, indicating a potential upside of 16.35%. Given Veeco Instruments’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Veeco Instruments is more favorable than Analog Devices.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.5% of Veeco Instruments shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.8% of Analog Devices shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Veeco Instruments shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Analog Devices shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Veeco Instruments and Analog Devices’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Veeco Instruments	3.40%	3.52%	2.32%
Analog Devices	29.79%	16.39%	11.49%

Summary

Analog Devices beats Veeco Instruments on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, China, Rest of the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers laser annealing, ion beam deposition and etch, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, single wafer wet processing and surface preparation, molecular beam epitaxy, advanced packaging lithography, atomic layer deposition, and other deposition systems. Its process equipment systems are used in the production of a range of microelectronic components, including logic, dynamic random-access memory, photonics devices, power electronics, radio frequency filters and amplifiers, magnetic heads for hard disk drives, and other semiconductor devices. In addition, the company markets and sells its products to integrated device manufacturers and foundries; outsourced semiconductor assembly and test companies; and hard disk drive and photonics manufacturers, as well as research centers and universities. Veeco Instruments Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Plainview, New York.

About Analog Devices

Analog Devices, Inc. designs, manufactures, tests, and markets integrated circuits (ICs), software, and subsystems products in the United States, rest of North and South America, Europe, Japan, China, and rest of Asia. The company provides data converter products, which translate real-world analog signals into digital data, as well as translates digital data into analog signals; power management and reference products for power conversion, driver monitoring, sequencing, and energy management applications in the automotive, communications, industrial, and consumer markets; and power ICs that include performance, integration, and software design simulation tools for accurate power supply designs. It also offers amplifiers to condition analog signals; and radio frequency and microwave ICs to support cellular infrastructure; and micro-electro-mechanical systems technology solutions, including accelerometers used to sense acceleration, gyroscopes for sense rotation, inertial measurement units to sense multiple degrees of freedom, and broadband switches for radio and instrument systems, as well as isolators. In addition, the company provides digital signal processing and system products for numeric calculations. It serves clients in the industrial, automotive, consumer, instrumentation, aerospace, defense and healthcare, and communications markets through a direct sales force, third-party distributors, and independent sales representatives, as well as online. Analog Devices, Inc. was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts.