Critical Analysis: Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) & LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH)

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and LightPath Technologies (NASDAQ:LPTH) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Micron Technology has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LightPath Technologies has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Micron Technology and LightPath Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Micron Technology	$25.11 billion	4.52	$778.00 million	$0.68	150.63
LightPath Technologies	$32.05 million	1.86	-$8.01 million	($0.22)	-6.82

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Micron Technology and LightPath Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Micron Technology	1	1	26	0	2.89
LightPath Technologies	0	0	2	0	3.00

Micron Technology currently has a consensus target price of $143.04, suggesting a potential upside of 39.64%. LightPath Technologies has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 100.00%. Given LightPath Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe LightPath Technologies is more favorable than Micron Technology.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Micron Technology	3.10%	1.58%	1.05%
LightPath Technologies	-25.86%	-26.51%	-16.55%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.8% of Micron Technology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.3% of LightPath Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Micron Technology shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of LightPath Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Micron Technology beats LightPath Technologies on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Micron Technology

Micron Technology, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells memory and storage products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Compute and Networking Business Unit, Mobile Business Unit, Embedded Business Unit, and Storage Business Unit. It provides memory and storage technologies comprising dynamic random access memory semiconductor devices with low latency that provide high-speed data retrieval; non-volatile and re-writeable semiconductor storage devices; and non-volatile re-writable semiconductor memory devices that provide fast read speeds under the Micron and Crucial brands, as well as through private labels. The company offers memory products for the cloud server, enterprise, client, graphics, networking, industrial, and automotive markets, as well as for smartphone and other mobile-device markets; SSDs and component-level solutions for the enterprise and cloud, client, and consumer storage markets; discrete storage products in component and wafers; and memory and storage products for the automotive, industrial, and consumer markets. It markets its products through its direct sales force, independent sales representatives, distributors, and retailers; and web-based customer direct sales channel, as well as through channel and distribution partners. Micron Technology, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Boise, Idaho.

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.