Contrasting Nano Labs (NASDAQ:NA) & nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR)

Nano Labs (NASDAQ:NA) and nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Nano Labs and nLIGHT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nano Labs	N/A	N/A	N/A
nLIGHT	-24.16%	-19.53%	-15.91%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Nano Labs and nLIGHT, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nano Labs	0	0	0	0	0.00
nLIGHT	0	0	3	0	3.00

nLIGHT has a consensus target price of $16.17, suggesting a potential upside of 48.86%. Given nLIGHT’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe nLIGHT is more favorable than Nano Labs.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nano Labs and nLIGHT”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nano Labs	$11.06 million	4.47	-$35.70 million	N/A	N/A
nLIGHT	$209.92 million	2.51	-$41.67 million	($1.03)	-10.54

Nano Labs has higher earnings, but lower revenue than nLIGHT.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

50.7% of Nano Labs shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.9% of nLIGHT shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.1% of nLIGHT shares are owned 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.

Volatility and Risk

Nano Labs has a beta of 2.3, suggesting that its stock price is 130% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, nLIGHT has a beta of 2.33, suggesting that its stock price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

nLIGHT beats Nano Labs on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nano Labs

Nano Labs Ltd operates as a fabless integrated circuit design company and product solution provider in the People's Republic of China and internationally. It develops high throughput computing and high-performance computing chips. The company also offers distributed computing and storage solutions, smart network interface cards, and vision computing chips, as well as distributed rendering technology. In addition, it engages in the research and development of software. Its customers include enterprises and individual buyers. The company was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China.

About nLIGHT

nLIGHT, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications. It sells its products through direct sales force in the United States, China, South Korea, and European countries, as well as through independent sales representatives and distributors in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. The company was formerly known as nLight Photonics Corporation and changed its name to nLIGHT, Inc. in January 2016. nLIGHT, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Camas, Washington.