Critical Review: Amkor Technology (NASDAQ:AMKR) and Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI)

Amkor Technology (NASDAQ:AMKR) and Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Amkor Technology has a beta of 1.85, suggesting that its stock price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ascent Solar Technologies has a beta of 2.61, suggesting that its stock price is 161% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Amkor Technology and Ascent Solar Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amkor Technology	$6.40 billion	1.19	$359.81 million	$1.52	20.37
Ascent Solar Technologies	$266,077.00	322.29	-$17.07 million	N/A	N/A

Amkor Technology has higher revenue and earnings than Ascent Solar Technologies.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

42.8% of Amkor Technology shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.6% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 31.4% of Amkor Technology shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Amkor Technology and Ascent Solar Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amkor Technology	0	3	5	1	2.78
Ascent Solar Technologies	0	0	0	0	N/A

Amkor Technology presently has a consensus price target of $40.75, suggesting a potential upside of 31.62%. Given Amkor Technology’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Amkor Technology is more favorable than Ascent Solar Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares Amkor Technology and Ascent Solar Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amkor Technology	5.87%	9.41%	5.56%
Ascent Solar Technologies	-4,900.29%	N/A	-144.70%

Summary

Amkor Technology beats Ascent Solar Technologies on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amkor Technology

Amkor Technology, Inc. provides outsourced semiconductor packaging and test services in the United States, Japan, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It offers turnkey packaging and test services, including semiconductor wafer bump, wafer probe, wafer back-grind, package design, packaging, system-level and final test, and drop shipment services; flip chip scale package products for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile consumer electronic devices; flip chip stacked chip scale packages that are used to stack memory digital baseband, and as applications processors in mobile devices; flip-chip ball grid array packages for various networking, storage, computing, automotive, and consumer applications; and memory products for system memory or platform data storage. The company also provides wafer-level CSP packages for power management, transceivers, sensors, wireless charging, codecs, radar, and specialty silicon; wafer-level fan-out packages used in power management, transceivers, radar, and specialty silicon; silicon wafer integrated fan-out technology that replaces a laminate substrate with a thinner structure; leadframe packages for electronic devices and mixed-signal applications; and substrate-based wirebond packages used to connect a die to a substrate. In addition, it offers micro-electro-mechanical systems packages that are miniaturized mechanical and electromechanical devices; and advanced system-in-package modules used in radio frequency and front end modules, basebands, connectivity, fingerprint sensors, display and touch screen drivers, sensors and MEMS, and NAND memory and solid-state drives. Further, the company provides wafer, package, and system level test services, as well as burn-in test and test development services. It serves integrated device manufacturers, fabless semiconductor companies, original equipment manufacturers, and contract foundries. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.

About Ascent Solar Technologies

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a solar technology company, engages in the manufacture and sale of photovoltaic solar modules in the United States. The company markets and sells its products through OEMs, system integrators, distributors, retailers, and value-added resellers. It serves agrivoltaics, aerospace, satellites, near earth orbiting vehicles, and fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Thornton, Colorado.