Photronics (PLAB) Competitors

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) and Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, community ranking, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of PLAB or UCTT?

88.4% of Photronics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Ultra Clean shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of Photronics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Ultra Clean shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PLAB or UCTT?

Ultra Clean received 129 more outperform votes than Photronics when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.50% of users gave Ultra Clean an outperform vote while only 66.48% of users gave Photronics an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Photronics	Outperform Votes 357 66.48%	Underperform Votes 180 33.52%
Ultra Clean	Outperform Votes 486 67.50%	Underperform Votes 234 32.50%

Does the media refer more to PLAB or UCTT?

In the previous week, Photronics had 5 more articles in the media than Ultra Clean. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Photronics and 2 mentions for Ultra Clean. Ultra Clean's average media sentiment score of 1.67 beat Photronics' score of 0.73 indicating that Ultra Clean is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Photronics	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ultra Clean	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts rate PLAB or UCTT?

Photronics presently has a consensus price target of $21.00, suggesting a potential downside of 17.06%. Ultra Clean has a consensus price target of $52.33, suggesting a potential upside of 34.22%. Given Ultra Clean's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ultra Clean is more favorable than Photronics.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Photronics	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Ultra Clean	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is PLAB or UCTT more profitable?

Photronics has a net margin of 15.34% compared to Ultra Clean's net margin of -1.79%. Photronics' return on equity of 10.37% beat Ultra Clean's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Photronics	15.34%	10.37%	8.69%
Ultra Clean	-1.79%	1.69%	0.83%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, PLAB or UCTT?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Photronics	$892.08M	1.80	$125.49M	$2.23	11.35
Ultra Clean	$1.73B	1.00	-$31.10M	-$0.69	-56.51

Which has more volatility & risk, PLAB or UCTT?

Photronics has a beta of 1.4, indicating that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ultra Clean has a beta of 2.03, indicating that its stock price is 103% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Photronics and Ultra Clean tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.