Head-To-Head Review: Pixelworks (NASDAQ:PXLW) & Atomera (NASDAQ:ATOM)

Pixelworks (NASDAQ:PXLW) and Atomera (NASDAQ:ATOM) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

21.4% of Pixelworks shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of Atomera shares are held by institutional investors. 4.7% of Pixelworks shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.0% of Atomera shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Pixelworks and Atomera’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pixelworks	-42.77%	-72.81%	-26.40%
Atomera	N/A	-102.30%	-80.30%

Volatility and Risk

Pixelworks has a beta of 1.62, suggesting that its share price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atomera has a beta of 1.52, suggesting that its share price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Pixelworks and Atomera, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pixelworks	0	0	3	0	3.00
Atomera	0	0	1	0	3.00

Pixelworks presently has a consensus target price of $2.33, indicating a potential upside of 201.93%. Atomera has a consensus target price of $7.00, indicating a potential upside of 155.47%. Given Pixelworks’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Pixelworks is more favorable than Atomera.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Pixelworks and Atomera”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pixelworks	$59.68 million	0.76	-$26.18 million	($0.39)	-1.98
Atomera	$640,000.00	115.11	-$19.79 million	($0.78)	-3.51

Atomera has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Pixelworks. Atomera is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pixelworks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Pixelworks beats Atomera on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pixelworks

Pixelworks, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and markets semiconductor and software solutions for mobile, home and enterprise, and cinema markets in the United States, Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Europe. The company offers imageprocessor integrated circuits, such as embedded microprocessors, digital signal processing technology, and software that control the operations and signal processing within high-end display systems; visual processor integrated circuits that works with a mobile application processor; and transcoder integrated circuits which includes software that control the operations and signal processing for converting multiple bitrates, resolutions and codecs to provide bandwidth efficient video transmissions based on industry standard protocols. It also provides software and platform licensing products comprising Pixelworks Pro Software, a software that enables development and customize the look and feel of mobile products by use of various features, such as absolute color accuracy, HDR tone mapping, SDR-to-HDR conversion, and others; and TrueCut Motion Platform, content creation tool which provides the ability to dial in a motion look on a shot-by-shot basis. The company distributes its products to integrators, branded manufacturers, and branded suppliers. Pixelworks, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Portland, Oregon.

About Atomera

Atomera Incorporated engages in the developing, commercializing, and licensing proprietary processes and technologies for the semiconductor industry in North America and the Asia Pacific. The company's lead technology is the Mears Silicon Technology, a thin film of reengineered silicon that can be applied as a transistor channel enhancement to CMOS-type transistors. Its customers include foundries, integrated device manufacturers, fabless semiconductor manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers, and electronic design automation companies. The company was formerly known as Mears Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Atomera Incorporated in January 2016. Atomera Incorporated was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California.