Head to Head Comparison: Peraso (NASDAQ:PRSO) versus Meta Materials (NASDAQ:MMAT)

Meta Materials (NASDAQ:MMAT) and Peraso (NASDAQ:PRSO) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

6.5% of Meta Materials shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.6% of Peraso shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Meta Materials shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of Peraso shares are held by 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Meta Materials and Peraso’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Meta Materials	$7.97 million	1.93	-$398.23 million	($76.00)	-0.03
Peraso	$13.75 million	0.14	-$16.80 million	($26.08)	-0.05

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Meta Materials and Peraso, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Meta Materials	0	0	0	0	N/A
Peraso	0	0	1	0	3.00

Peraso has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 2,788.09%. Given Peraso’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Peraso is more favorable than Meta Materials.

Volatility and Risk

Meta Materials has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peraso has a beta of 1.8, meaning that its share price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Meta Materials and Peraso’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Meta Materials	-4,999.15%	-82.48%	-68.53%
Peraso	-122.15%	-172.90%	-108.39%

Summary

Peraso beats Meta Materials on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Meta Materials

Meta Materials Inc. manufactures and sells various functional materials and nanocomposites. The company products include metaAIR, a laser glare protection eyewear; NANOWEB, a transparent conductive film; holoOPTIX, a holographic optical component; and glucoWISE, a non-invasive glucose monitoring. It also develops and produces nano-optic structures and color-shifting foils that are used in authentication and brand protection applications in various markets, including banknotes, secure government documents, and commercial branding. In addition, the company develops NPORE, a ceramic nanoporous membrane separator for lithium-ion batteries. Its customers are OEM providers in various industries, including aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics, communications, energy, banknote and brand security, and medical devices. The company was formerly known as Torchlight Energy Resources, Inc. and changed its name to Meta Materials Inc. in June 2021. Meta Materials Inc. is headquartered in Dartmouth, Canada.

About Peraso

Peraso Inc., a fabless semiconductor company, develops, markets, and sells semiconductor devices and modules. The company's products include millimeter wavelength (mmWave) ICs, including baseband IC, various mmWave radio frequency, integrated circuits, as well as associated antenna technology; and mmWave antenna modules. It also provides accelerator engine products, comprising bandwidth engine for high-performance applications where throughput is critical; and quad partition rate, which allows for parallel accesses to multiple partitions of the memory simultaneously. Its mmWave products are used for various applications, such as multi-gigabit point-to-point (PtMP) wireless links; and fixed wireless access in the 5G operating bands, as well as consumer applications, such as wireless video streaming, and untethered augmented reality and virtual reality. The company also licenses intellectual property, as well as offers non-recurring engineering services. It markets its products through direct sales personnel, as well as sells representatives and distributors. The company was formerly knowns as MoSys, Inc. and changed its name to Peraso Inc. in December 2021. Peraso Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in San Jose, California.