Contrasting Climb Global Solutions (NASDAQ:CLMB) and Netlist (OTCMKTS:NLST)

Netlist (OTCMKTS:NLST) and Climb Global Solutions (NASDAQ:CLMB) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Netlist has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its stock price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Climb Global Solutions has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Netlist and Climb Global Solutions”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Netlist	$188.63 million	4.14	-$24.82 million	N/A	N/A
Climb Global Solutions	$652.52 million	0.78	$21.33 million	$1.12	24.40

Climb Global Solutions has higher revenue and earnings than Netlist.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Netlist and Climb Global Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Netlist	0	1	1	0	2.50
Climb Global Solutions	0	2	2	1	2.80

Netlist currently has a consensus target price of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 113.68%. Climb Global Solutions has a consensus target price of $31.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.43%. Given Netlist’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Netlist is more favorable than Climb Global Solutions.

Profitability

This table compares Netlist and Climb Global Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Netlist	0.24%	-29.40%	1.22%
Climb Global Solutions	2.88%	18.87%	5.04%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.0% of Netlist shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.7% of Climb Global Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of Netlist shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Climb Global Solutions shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Climb Global Solutions beats Netlist on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Netlist

Netlist, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets memory subsystems for the server, high-performance computing, and communications markets in the United States and internationally. The company portfolio of proprietary technologies and design techniques, includes efficient planar design, alternative packaging techniques, and custom semiconductor logic, to deliver memory subsystems; and sells specialty memory modules and flash-based products for use in data center and industrial applications. It resells component products, including solid state drive (SSD), NAND flash, and dual inline memory module (DIMM) to storage customers, appliance customers, system builders, and cloud and datacenter customers; and sells component inventory to distributors and other users of memory integrated circuits. The company markets and sells its products through a direct sales force and a network of independent sales representatives. Netlist, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

About Climb Global Solutions

Climb Global Solutions Inc. operates as a value-added information technology (IT) distribution and solutions company in the United States, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Distribution and Solutions. The company distributes technical software to corporate and value-added resellers, consultants, and systems integrators under the name Climb Channel Solutions; and provides cloud solutions and resells software, hardware, and services under the name Grey Matter. It also resells computer software and hardware developed by others, as well as provides technical services to end user customers. In addition, the company offers a line of products from various software vendors; and tools for virtualization/cloud computing, security, networking, storage and infrastructure management, application lifecycle management, and other technically sophisticated domains, as well as computer hardware. It markets its products through its own web sites, local and on-line seminars, events, webinars, and social media, as well as direct email and printed materials. The company was formerly known as Wayside Technology Group, Inc. and changed its name to Climb Global Solutions Inc. in October 2022. Climb Global Solutions Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Eatontown, New Jersey.