Financial Contrast: LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) & POET Technologies (OTCMKTS:POETF)

POET Technologies (OTCMKTS:POETF) and LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

POET Technologies has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LightPath Technologies has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for POET Technologies and LightPath Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
POET Technologies	0	0	0	0	N/A
LightPath Technologies	0	0	2	0	3.00

LightPath Technologies has a consensus price target of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 114.29%. Given LightPath Technologies’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe LightPath Technologies is more favorable than POET Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares POET Technologies and LightPath Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
POET Technologies	N/A	-88.82%	-74.05%
LightPath Technologies	-19.72%	-18.97%	-12.16%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares POET Technologies and LightPath Technologies’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
POET Technologies	$4.43 million	205.96	-$18.17 million	($0.05)	-50.00
LightPath Technologies	$32.78 million	1.66	-$4.05 million	($0.18)	-7.78

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

56.3% of LightPath Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.2% of LightPath Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

LightPath Technologies beats POET Technologies on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About POET Technologies

POET Technologies, Inc. engages in the designing, developing, manufacturing and sale of opto-electronic solutions for the sensing, data communications and telecommunications markets. It developed POET Optical Interposer platform, which allows the integration of electronic and photonic devices into a single multi-chip module. The company was founded on November 14, 1985 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About LightPath Technologies

LightPath Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes optical components and assemblies. The company offers precision molded glass aspheric optics, molded and diamond-turned infrared aspheric lenses, and other optical components used to produce products that manipulate light; and infrared products, including catalog and custom infrared optics. Its products are used in defense products, medical devices, laser aided industrial tools, automotive safety applications, barcode scanners, optical data storage, hybrid fiber coax datacom, telecommunications, machine vision and sensors, and other sectors. The company sells its products directly to customers in Europe and Asia. LightPath Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.