Ideal Power (NASDAQ:IPWR – Get Free Report) and PDF Solutions (NASDAQ:PDFS – Get Free Report) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.
Profitability
This table compares Ideal Power and PDF Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Ideal Power | N/A | -60.76% | -54.15% |
| PDF Solutions | 4.27% | 7.21% | 4.83% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
16.4% of Ideal Power shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of PDF Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of Ideal Power shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of PDF Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Ideal Power and PDF Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Ideal Power | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| PDF Solutions | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2.67 |
Ideal Power presently has a consensus target price of $10.75, suggesting a potential upside of 252.46%. PDF Solutions has a consensus target price of $61.33, suggesting a potential upside of 39.44%. Given Ideal Power’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ideal Power is more favorable than PDF Solutions.
Risk & Volatility
Ideal Power has a beta of 1.88, indicating that its stock price is 88% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PDF Solutions has a beta of 1.66, indicating that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Ideal Power and PDF Solutions”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Ideal Power | $30,250.00 | 1,657.08 | -$10.58 million | ($1.06) | -2.88 |
| PDF Solutions | $219.02 million | 8.02 | -$640,000.00 | $0.25 | 175.94 |
PDF Solutions has higher revenue and earnings than Ideal Power. Ideal Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PDF Solutions, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
PDF Solutions beats Ideal Power on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Ideal Power
Ideal Power Inc. focuses on the development and commercialization of its bidirectional bipolar junction TRANsistor solid-state switch technology. It also offers SymCool Power Module designed to meet low conduction loss needs of the solid-state circuit breaker market. The company serves electric and hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging, renewable energy and energy storage system power converters, uninterruptible power supplies for data centers, industrial motor drives, solid-state circuit breakers, distribution and transmission switches and controls, and other industrial and military markets. The company was formerly known as Ideal Power Converters Inc. and changed its name to Ideal Power Inc. in July 2013. Ideal Power Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
About PDF Solutions
PDF Solutions, Inc. provides proprietary software and physical intellectual property products for integrated circuit designs, electrical measurement hardware tools, proven methodologies, and professional services in the United States, China, Japan, and internationally. The company offers Exensio software products, such as Manufacturing Analytics that store collected data in a common environment with a consistent view for enabling product engineers to identify and analyze production yield, performance, reliability, and other issues; Process Control that provides failure detection and classification capabilities for monitoring, alarming, and controlling manufacturing tool sets; Test Operations that offer data collection and analysis capabilities; and Assembly Operations that provide device manufacturers with the capability to link assembly and packaging data, including fabrication and characterization data over the product life cycle. It also provides Design-For-Inspection (DFI) systems, such as DFI On-Chip Instruments; eProbe Non-Contact E-Beam Tool; and Characterization Vehicle (CV) system, which includes CV Test Chips and pdFasTest Electrical Testers, as well as Exensio characterization software, designed to analyze the measurements collected using the eProbe tool. In addition, the company offers Cimetrix software products that enables equipment manufacturers to provide industry standard interfaces on their products; and software-as-a-service, software related services, and characterization services. It sells its technologies and services through direct sales force, service teams, and strategic alliances to integrated device manufacturers, fabless semiconductor companies, foundries, equipment manufacturers, electronics manufacturing suppliers, original device manufacturers, out-sourced semiconductor assembly and test, and system houses. PDF Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
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