Critical Contrast: SiTime (NASDAQ:SITM) and Ideal Power (NASDAQ:IPWR)

SiTime (NASDAQ:SITM) and Ideal Power (NASDAQ:IPWR) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.3% of SiTime shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.4% of Ideal Power shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of SiTime shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Ideal Power shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares SiTime and Ideal Power’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SiTime	-53.55%	-9.89%	-7.56%
Ideal Power	-7,152.45%	-55.69%	-49.80%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares SiTime and Ideal Power”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SiTime	$176.99 million	30.75	-$80.54 million	($4.14)	-56.27
Ideal Power	$142,107.00	411.11	-$9.95 million	($1.40)	-5.12

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for SiTime and Ideal Power, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SiTime	1	0	3	0	2.50
Ideal Power	0	0	1	0	3.00

SiTime currently has a consensus price target of $208.75, suggesting a potential downside of 10.39%. Ideal Power has a consensus price target of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 95.26%. Given Ideal Power’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ideal Power is more favorable than SiTime.

Volatility and Risk

SiTime has a beta of 1.82, meaning that its share price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ideal Power has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

About SiTime

SiTime Corporation designs, develops, and sells silicon timing systems solutions in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the United States, Singapore, and internationally. The company provides resonators and clock integrated circuits, and various types of oscillators. It serves various markets, including communications, datacenter, enterprise, automotive, industrial, internet of things, mobile, consumer, and aerospace and defense. The company sells its products directly to customers, distributors, and resellers. SiTime Corporation was incorporated in 2003 and is based in Santa Clara, California.

About Ideal Power

Ideal Power Inc. focuses on the development and commercialization of its bidirectional bipolar junction TRANsistor solid-state switch technology. It also offers SymCool Power Module designed to meet low conduction loss needs of the solid-state circuit breaker market. The company serves electric and hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging, renewable energy and energy storage system power converters, uninterruptible power supplies for data centers, industrial motor drives, solid-state circuit breakers, distribution and transmission switches and controls, and other industrial and military markets. The company was formerly known as Ideal Power Converters Inc. and changed its name to Ideal Power Inc. in July 2013. Ideal Power Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.