Comparing Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) & ASML (NASDAQ:ASML)

ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) and Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

ASML has a beta of 1.73, indicating that its stock price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Advanced Energy Industries has a beta of 1.52, indicating that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ASML and Advanced Energy Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ASML	28.32%	51.82%	19.61%
Advanced Energy Industries	4.73%	10.70%	5.48%

Dividends

ASML pays an annual dividend of $7.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Advanced Energy Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. ASML pays out 30.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Advanced Energy Industries pays out 20.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for ASML and Advanced Energy Industries, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ASML	0	5	6	1	2.67
Advanced Energy Industries	0	3	7	1	2.82

ASML currently has a consensus target price of $913.80, indicating a potential upside of 15.06%. Advanced Energy Industries has a consensus target price of $126.89, indicating a potential downside of 8.07%. Given ASML’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ASML is more favorable than Advanced Energy Industries.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

26.1% of ASML shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of Advanced Energy Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Advanced Energy Industries 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ASML and Advanced Energy Industries”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ASML	$30.59 billion	10.22	$8.19 billion	$23.73	33.47
Advanced Energy Industries	$1.48 billion	3.51	$54.21 million	$1.94	71.15

ASML has higher revenue and earnings than Advanced Energy Industries. ASML is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Advanced Energy Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

ASML beats Advanced Energy Industries on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ASML

ASML Holding N.V. develops, produces, markets, sells, and services advanced semiconductor equipment systems for chipmakers. It offers advanced semiconductor equipment systems, including lithography, metrology, and inspection systems. The company also provides extreme ultraviolet lithography systems; and deep ultraviolet lithography systems comprising immersion and dry lithography solutions to manufacture various range of semiconductor nodes and technologies. In addition, it offers metrology and inspection systems, including YieldStar optical metrology systems to assess the quality of patterns on the wafers; and HMI electron beam solutions to locate and analyze individual chip defects. Further, the company provides computational lithography solutions, and lithography systems and control software solutions; and refurbishes and upgrades lithography systems, as well as offers customer support and related services. It operates in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, China, rest of Asia, the Netherlands, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the United States. The company was formerly known as ASM Lithography Holding N.V. and changed its name to ASML Holding N.V. in 2001. ASML Holding N.V. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Veldhoven, the Netherlands.

About Advanced Energy Industries

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. provides precision power conversion, measurement, and control solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's plasma power products offer solutions to enable innovation for semiconductor and thin film plasma processes, such as dry etch and deposition. It also provides high and low voltage power products used in a range of applications, such as semiconductor equipment, industrial production, medical and life science equipment, data centers computing, networking, and telecommunications. In addition, the company supplies sensing, controls, and instrumentation products for advanced measurement and calibration of power and temperature. Further, the company provides calibration, conversions, upgrades, and refurbishments and used equipment to companies, as well as repair services. Further, it offers warranty and after-market repair services. It offers its products through a direct sales force, independent sales representatives, channel partners, and distributors. Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.