Contrasting Wolfspeed (NYSE:WOLF) and Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI)

Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) and Wolfspeed (NYSE:WOLF) are both small-cap oils/energy companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Ascent Solar Technologies and Wolfspeed, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascent Solar Technologies	0	0	0	0	0.00
Wolfspeed	2	10	4	0	2.13

Wolfspeed has a consensus target price of $17.36, indicating a potential upside of 73.05%. Given Wolfspeed’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Wolfspeed is more favorable than Ascent Solar Technologies.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

10.6% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Wolfspeed shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Ascent Solar Technologies has a beta of 2.54, meaning that its share price is 154% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wolfspeed has a beta of 1.46, meaning that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and Wolfspeed”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascent Solar Technologies	$266,077.00	10.65	-$17.07 million	N/A	N/A
Wolfspeed	$807.20 million	1.58	-$864.20 million	($5.95)	-1.69

Ascent Solar Technologies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Wolfspeed.

Profitability

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and Wolfspeed’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ascent Solar Technologies	-4,900.29%	N/A	-144.70%
Wolfspeed	-93.31%	-45.09%	-6.00%

Summary

Wolfspeed beats Ascent Solar Technologies on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ascent Solar Technologies

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a solar technology company, engages in the manufacture and sale of photovoltaic solar modules in the United States. The company markets and sells its products through OEMs, system integrators, distributors, retailers, and value-added resellers. It serves agrivoltaics, aerospace, satellites, near earth orbiting vehicles, and fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Thornton, Colorado.

About Wolfspeed

Wolfspeed, Inc. operates as a powerhouse semiconductor company focuses on silicon carbide and gallium nitride (GaN) technologies in Europe, Hong Kong, China, rest of Asia-Pacific, the United States, and internationally. It offers silicon carbide and GaN materials, including silicon carbide bare wafers, epitaxial wafers, and GaN epitaxial layers on silicon carbide wafers to manufacture products for RF, power, and other applications. The company also provides power devices, such as silicon carbide Schottky diodes, metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), and power modules for customers and distributors to use in applications, including electric vehicles comprising charging infrastructure, server power supplies, solar inverters, uninterruptible power supplies, industrial power supplies, and other applications. In addition, it offers RF devices comprising GaN-based die, high-electron mobility transistors, monolithic microwave integrated circuits, and laterally diffused MOSFET power transistors for telecommunications infrastructure, military, and other commercial applications. The company was formerly known as Cree, Inc. and changed its name to Wolfspeed, Inc. in October 2021. Wolfspeed, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.