Comparing nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) & Solar Enertech (OTCMKTS:SOEN)

Solar Enertech (OTCMKTS:SOEN) and nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.9% of nLIGHT shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.1% of nLIGHT 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.

Risk and Volatility

Solar Enertech has a beta of 55.06, suggesting that its stock price is 5,406% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, nLIGHT has a beta of 2.33, suggesting that its stock price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Solar Enertech and nLIGHT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Solar Enertech	0	0	0	0	0.00
nLIGHT	0	0	3	0	3.00

nLIGHT has a consensus target price of $16.17, indicating a potential upside of 41.94%. Given nLIGHT’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe nLIGHT is more favorable than Solar Enertech.

Profitability

This table compares Solar Enertech and nLIGHT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Solar Enertech	N/A	N/A	N/A
nLIGHT	-24.16%	-19.53%	-15.91%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Solar Enertech and nLIGHT”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Solar Enertech	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
nLIGHT	$209.92 million	2.63	-$41.67 million	($1.03)	-11.06

Solar Enertech has higher earnings, but lower revenue than nLIGHT.

Summary

nLIGHT beats Solar Enertech on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Solar Enertech

Solar EnerTech Corp. operates as a photovoltaic (PV) solar energy cell manufacturing company. Its principal products include monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon solar cells and modules. The company’s solar cells convert sunlight to electricity through the PV effect. It also designs and produces advanced PV modules for various applications, such as standard panels for solar power stations, roof panels, solar arrays, and modules incorporated directly into exterior walls. The company markets its products primarily to solar panel installers, who incorporate those modules into their power generating systems that are sold to end-customers located in Europe, Australia, North America, and China. It markets its solar cells and modules under the SolarE brand name. The company was formerly known as Safer Residence Corporation and changed its name to Solar EnerTech Corp. in April 2006. Solar EnerTech Corp. was incorporated in 2004 is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

About nLIGHT

nLIGHT, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications. It sells its products through direct sales force in the United States, China, South Korea, and European countries, as well as through independent sales representatives and distributors in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. The company was formerly known as nLight Photonics Corporation and changed its name to nLIGHT, Inc. in January 2016. nLIGHT, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Camas, Washington.