Reviewing ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX) and Impinj (NASDAQ:PI)

ASE Technology (NYSE:ASX) and Impinj (NASDAQ:PI) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares ASE Technology and Impinj’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ASE Technology	7.03%	13.48%	5.48%
Impinj	-7.66%	5.67%	2.18%

Volatility and Risk

ASE Technology has a beta of 1.72, meaning that its stock price is 72% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Impinj has a beta of 1.91, meaning that its stock price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

6.8% of ASE Technology shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.9% of ASE Technology shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.8% of Impinj shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ASE Technology and Impinj”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ASE Technology	$20.73 billion	3.76	$1.28 billion	$0.68	51.53
Impinj	$361.08 million	10.55	-$10.85 million	($0.92)	-135.91

ASE Technology has higher revenue and earnings than Impinj. Impinj is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ASE Technology, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for ASE Technology and Impinj, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ASE Technology	0	1	1	1	3.00
Impinj	1	3	5	0	2.44

Impinj has a consensus target price of $175.00, indicating a potential upside of 39.96%. Given Impinj’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Impinj is more favorable than ASE Technology.

Summary

ASE Technology beats Impinj on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ASE Technology

ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides semiconductors packaging and testing, and electronic manufacturing services in the United States, Taiwan, Asia, Europe, and internationally. It develops, constructs, sells, leases, and manages real estate properties; produces substrates; offers information software, equipment leasing, investment advisory, and warehousing management services; commercial complex, after-sales, and support services; manages parking lot services; processes and sells computer and communication peripherals, electronic components, telecommunications equipment, and motherboards; and imports and exports goods and technology. ASE Technology Holding Co., Ltd. was founded in 1984 and is based in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

About Impinj

Impinj, Inc. operates a cloud connectivity platform in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its platform wirelessly connects items and delivers data about the connected items to business and consumer applications. The company’s platform comprises endpoint ICs, a miniature radios-on-a-chip that attaches to a host item and includes a number to identify the item. Its platform also consists of systems products that consists of reader ICs, readers, and gateways to wirelessly provide power to and communicate bidirectionally with endpoint ICs on host items, as well as to read, write, authenticate, and engage the endpoint ICs on those items; and software and algorithms that enable its partners to solve enterprise business problems, such as retail self-checkout and loss prevention. The company primarily serves retail, supply chain and logistics, automotive, aviation, banking, datacenters, food, healthcare, industrial and manufacturing, linen and uniform tracking, sports, and travel industries through original equipment and device manufacturers, tag service bureaus, systems integrators, value-added resellers, independent software vendors, and other solution partners. Impinj, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.