Reviewing OriginClear (OTCMKTS:OCLN) and Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS)

OriginClear (OTCMKTS:OCLN) and Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

OriginClear has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amtech Systems has a beta of 1.45, meaning that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for OriginClear and Amtech Systems, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OriginClear	0	0	0	0	N/A
Amtech Systems	0	1	0	0	2.00

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares OriginClear and Amtech Systems”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
OriginClear	$30,000.00	367.28	-$11.63 million	N/A	N/A
Amtech Systems	$113.32 million	0.76	-$12.58 million	($1.51)	-4.00

OriginClear has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Amtech Systems.

Profitability

This table compares OriginClear and Amtech Systems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OriginClear	N/A	N/A	-9.16%
Amtech Systems	-19.05%	-4.16%	-2.72%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

50.2% of Amtech Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of OriginClear shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.9% of Amtech Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Amtech Systems beats OriginClear on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About OriginClear

OriginClear, Inc. provides water treatment solutions worldwide. It licenses its Electro Water Separation water cleanup technology that utilizes a catalytic process to concentrate and eliminate suspended solids in commercial and industrial wastewater; and Advanced Oxidation technology for reducing or eliminating dissolved organic microtoxins, which includes bacteria and viruses, hormones, drugs, and pesticides. The company also designs and manufactures a line of water treatment systems for municipal, industrial, commercial, and pure water applications. In addition, it offers a range of services, including maintenance contracts, retrofits, and replacement assistance; and rents equipment through contracts of varying duration, as well as provides prefabricated water transport and treatment products. The company was formerly known as OriginOil, Inc. and changed its name to OriginClear, Inc. in April 2015. OriginClear, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida.

About Amtech Systems

Amtech Systems, Inc. manufactures and sells capital equipment and related consumables for use in fabricating silicon carbide (SiC), silicon power devices, analog and discrete devices, electronic assemblies, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) worldwide. The company operates through Semiconductor and Material and Substrate segments. The Semiconductor segment designs, manufactures, sells, and services thermal processing equipment, including solder reflow ovens, horizontal diffusion furnaces, and custom high-temp belt furnaces for use by semiconductor, electronics, and electro/mechanical assembly manufacturers; and diffusion and reflow thermal systems, as well as wafer cleaning equipment and related services. The Material and Substrate segment manufactures and sells consumables and machinery for lapping and polishing of materials, such as silicon wafers for semiconductor products; sapphire substrates for LED lighting and mobile devices; silicon carbide wafers for LED and power device applications; various glass and silica components for 3D image transmission; quartz and ceramic components for telecommunications devices; and medical device components, and optical and photonics applications. It also offers substrate products comprising of double-sided wafer cleaning system, entegrity head tester, substrate carrier, substrate polishing templates, double-sided lapping and polishing machines, single-sided polisher, and substrate process chemicals. The company sells its products through sales personnel, as well as a network of independent sales representatives and distributors. Amtech Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.