Contrasting Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) & SES AI (NYSE:SES)

Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) and SES AI (NYSE:SES) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Luminar Technologies and SES AI’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Luminar Technologies	-305.46%	N/A	-104.61%
SES AI	N/A	-32.65%	-28.67%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

31.0% of Luminar Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.8% of SES AI shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.2% of Luminar Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.1% of SES AI shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Luminar Technologies and SES AI, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Luminar Technologies	1	4	2	0	2.14
SES AI	1	1	1	0	2.00

Luminar Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $53.86, suggesting a potential upside of 1,689.27%. SES AI has a consensus price target of $1.50, suggesting a potential upside of 68.92%. Given Luminar Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Luminar Technologies is more favorable than SES AI.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Luminar Technologies and SES AI”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Luminar Technologies	$75.39 million	1.87	-$273.14 million	($6.53)	-0.46
SES AI	$2.04 million	159.69	-$100.18 million	($0.30)	-2.96

SES AI has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Luminar Technologies. SES AI is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Luminar Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Luminar Technologies has a beta of 1.94, meaning that its stock price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SES AI has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Luminar Technologies beats SES AI on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Luminar Technologies

Luminar Technologies, Inc., an automotive technology company, provides sensor technologies and software for passenger cars and commercial trucks in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. It operates in two segments, Autonomy Solutions and Advanced Technologies and Services. The Autonomy Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and sells laser imaging, detection, and ranging sensors or lidars, as well as related perception and autonomy software solutions primarily for original equipment manufacturers in the automobile, commercial vehicle, robo-taxi, and adjacent industries. The Advanced Technologies and Services segment develops application-specific integrated circuits, pixel-based sensors, and advanced lasers. This segment also designs, tests, and provides consulting services for non-standard integrated circuits for use in automobile and aeronautics sector, as well as government spending in military and defense activities. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

About SES AI

SES AI Corporation engages in the development and production of high-performance Lithium-metal rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, electric vehicle take-off and landing, and other applications. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts.