Comparing Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) and GCT Semiconductor (NYSE:GCTS)

Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) and GCT Semiconductor (NYSE:GCTS) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Ultra Clean and GCT Semiconductor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ultra Clean	0.18%	4.08%	1.94%
GCT Semiconductor	N/A	N/A	-27.81%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ultra Clean and GCT Semiconductor”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ultra Clean	$1.98 billion	0.83	-$31.10 million	$0.08	457.50
GCT Semiconductor	$16.03 million	7.09	-$2.00 million	N/A	N/A

GCT Semiconductor has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ultra Clean.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.1% of Ultra Clean shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.1% of GCT Semiconductor shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Ultra Clean shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of GCT Semiconductor shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Ultra Clean has a beta of 2.1, indicating that its share price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GCT Semiconductor has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Ultra Clean and GCT Semiconductor, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ultra Clean	0	0	4	0	3.00
GCT Semiconductor	0	0	1	0	3.00

Ultra Clean presently has a consensus price target of $57.75, indicating a potential upside of 57.79%. GCT Semiconductor has a consensus price target of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 236.13%. Given GCT Semiconductor’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe GCT Semiconductor is more favorable than Ultra Clean.

Summary

Ultra Clean beats GCT Semiconductor on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ultra Clean

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. develops and supplies critical subsystems, components and parts, and ultra-high purity cleaning and analytical services for the semiconductor industry in the United States and internationally. The company provides ultra-clean valves, high purity connectors, industrial process connectors and valves, pneumatic actuators, manifolds and safety solutions, hoses, pressure gauges, and gas line and component heaters; chemical delivery modules that deliver gases and reactive chemicals in a liquid or gaseous form from a centralized subsystem to the reaction chamber; and gas delivery systems, such as weldments, filters, mass flow controllers, regulators, pressure transducers and valves, component heaters, and an integrated electronic and/or pneumatic control system. It also offers various industrial and automation production equipment; fluid delivery systems consist of one or more chemical delivery units, including PFA tubing, filters, flow controllers, regulators, component heaters, and an integrated electronic and/or pneumatic control system; precision robotic systems; top-plate assemblies; frame assemblies; process modules, a subsystem of semiconductor manufacturing tools that process integrated circuits onto wafers; and other high-level assemblies. In addition, the company provides tool chamber parts cleaning and coating services; micro-contamination analysis services for tool parts, wafers and depositions, chemicals, cleanroom materials, deionized water, and airborne molecular contamination; and analytical verification services for process tool chamber part cleaning. It primarily serves original equipment manufacturing customers in the semiconductor capital equipment and semiconductor integrated device manufacturing industries, as well as display, consumer, medical, energy, industrial, and research equipment industries. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Hayward, California.

About GCT Semiconductor

GCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc., operates as a fabless semiconductor company, designs, develops, and markets integrated circuits for the wireless semiconductor industry. The company provides RF and modem chipsets based on 4G LTE technology, including 4G LTE, 4.5G LTE Advanced, and 4.75G LTE Advanced-Pro. It also develops and sells cellular IoT chipsets for low-speed mobile networks such as eMTC/NB-IOT/Sigfox, and other network protocols; and 5G solutions. Its products and solutions are used in smartphones, tablets, hotspots, CPEs, USB dongles, routers, and M2M applications. The company sells its products directly or indirectly through distributors to original equipment manufacturers and original design manufacturers primarily in Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan, Europe, North America and South America. The company was formerly known as Global Communication Technology, Inc. GCT Semiconductor Holding, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.