nLIGHT (LASR) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer LASR or CAN?

nLIGHT received 181 more outperform votes than Canaan when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.64% of users gave Canaan an outperform vote while only 63.52% of users gave nLIGHT an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
nLIGHT	Outperform Votes 195 63.52%	Underperform Votes 112 36.48%
Canaan	Outperform Votes 14 63.64%	Underperform Votes 8 36.36%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of LASR or CAN?

83.9% of nLIGHT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.1% of Canaan shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.1% of nLIGHT shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Canaan shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is LASR or CAN more profitable?

nLIGHT has a net margin of -24.16% compared to Canaan's net margin of -158.65%. nLIGHT's return on equity of -19.53% beat Canaan's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
nLIGHT	-24.16%	-19.53%	-15.91%
Canaan	-158.65%	-59.66%	-44.41%

Do analysts prefer LASR or CAN?

nLIGHT presently has a consensus target price of $16.17, indicating a potential upside of 54.12%. Canaan has a consensus target price of $3.38, indicating a potential upside of 128.04%. Given Canaan's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Canaan is more favorable than nLIGHT.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
nLIGHT	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Canaan	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Which has better earnings & valuation, LASR or CAN?

nLIGHT has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Canaan. nLIGHT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Canaan, 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
nLIGHT	$197.56M	2.57	-$41.67M	-$1.03	-10.18
Canaan	$211.48M	2.12	-$414.15M	-$1.55	-0.95

Which has more risk and volatility, LASR or CAN?

nLIGHT has a beta of 2.33, suggesting that its stock price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Canaan has a beta of 3.06, suggesting that its stock price is 206% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer LASR or CAN?

In the previous week, Canaan had 2 more articles in the media than nLIGHT. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Canaan and 13 mentions for nLIGHT. nLIGHT's average media sentiment score of 0.30 beat Canaan's score of 0.22 indicating that nLIGHT is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
nLIGHT	4 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Canaan	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

nLIGHT beats Canaan on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.