PDF Solutions (NASDAQ:PDFS) vs. STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) Financial Survey

PDF Solutions (NASDAQ:PDFS) and STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) are both technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares PDF Solutions and STMicroelectronics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PDF Solutions	$219.02 million	9.28	-$640,000.00	$0.25	203.60
STMicroelectronics	$11.80 billion	4.13	$166.00 million	$0.51	106.45

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

Profitability

This table compares PDF Solutions and STMicroelectronics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PDF Solutions	4.27%	7.21%	4.83%
STMicroelectronics	3.56%	4.30%	3.07%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for PDF Solutions and STMicroelectronics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PDF Solutions	1	1	3	0	2.40
STMicroelectronics	0	5	8	0	2.62

PDF Solutions currently has a consensus target price of $58.50, indicating a potential upside of 14.93%. STMicroelectronics has a consensus target price of $71.65, indicating a potential upside of 31.98%. Given STMicroelectronics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe STMicroelectronics is more favorable than PDF Solutions.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

79.5% of PDF Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 5.0% of STMicroelectronics shares are held by institutional investors. 11.1% of PDF Solutions shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

PDF Solutions has a beta of 1.67, meaning that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, STMicroelectronics has a beta of 1.95, meaning that its share price is 95% more volatile than the S&P 500.

About PDF Solutions

PDF Solutions, Inc. provides proprietary software and physical intellectual property products for integrated circuit designs, electrical measurement hardware tools, proven methodologies, and professional services in the United States, China, Japan, and internationally. The company offers Exensio software products, such as Manufacturing Analytics that store collected data in a common environment with a consistent view for enabling product engineers to identify and analyze production yield, performance, reliability, and other issues; Process Control that provides failure detection and classification capabilities for monitoring, alarming, and controlling manufacturing tool sets; Test Operations that offer data collection and analysis capabilities; and Assembly Operations that provide device manufacturers with the capability to link assembly and packaging data, including fabrication and characterization data over the product life cycle. It also provides Design-For-Inspection (DFI) systems, such as DFI On-Chip Instruments; eProbe Non-Contact E-Beam Tool; and Characterization Vehicle (CV) system, which includes CV Test Chips and pdFasTest Electrical Testers, as well as Exensio characterization software, designed to analyze the measurements collected using the eProbe tool. In addition, the company offers Cimetrix software products that enables equipment manufacturers to provide industry standard interfaces on their products; and software-as-a-service, software related services, and characterization services. It sells its technologies and services through direct sales force, service teams, and strategic alliances to integrated device manufacturers, fabless semiconductor companies, foundries, equipment manufacturers, electronics manufacturing suppliers, original device manufacturers, out-sourced semiconductor assembly and test, and system houses. PDF Solutions, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

About STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics N.V., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through Automotive and Discrete Group; Analog, MEMS and Sensors Group; and Microcontrollers and Digital ICs Group segments. The Automotive and Discrete Group segment offers automotive integrated circuits (ICs), and discrete and power transistor products. The Analog, MEMS and Sensors Group segment provides industrial application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and application-specific standard products (ASSPs); general purpose analog products; custom analog ICs; wireless charging solutions; galvanic isolated gate drivers; low and high voltage amplifiers, comparators, and current-sense amplifiers; MasterGaN, a solution that integrates a silicon driver and GaN power transistors in a single package; wireline and wireless connectivity ICs; touch screen controllers; micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) products, including sensors or actuators; and optical sensing solutions. The Microcontrollers and Digital ICs Group segment offers general purpose and secure microcontrollers; and radio frequency (RF) products. It also offers application-specific standard products for analog, digital and mixed-signal applications. In addition, the company provides assembly and other services. It sells its products through distributors and retailers, as well as through sales representatives. The company serves automotive, industrial, personal electronics and communications equipment, and computers and peripherals markets. STMicroelectronics N.V. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.