Critical Comparison: Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) vs. ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES (NASDAQ:IMOS)

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

Volatility and Risk

Ascent Solar Technologies has a beta of 2.62, suggesting that its stock price is 162% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascent Solar Technologies	$266,077.00	326.91	-$17.07 million	N/A	N/A
ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES	$21.72 billion	0.04	$64.26 million	$1.85	12.17

ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES has higher revenue and earnings than Ascent Solar Technologies.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.6% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 7.4% of ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.7% of ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Ascent Solar Technologies and ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascent Solar Technologies	0	0	0	0	N/A
ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES	0	0	0	0	N/A

Profitability

This table compares Ascent Solar Technologies and ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES’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%
ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES	8.67%	7.72%	4.17%

Summary

ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES beats Ascent Solar Technologies on 6 of the 9 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 ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES

ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES INC. engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of high-integration and high-precision integrated circuits, and related assembly and testing services in the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and internationally. It operates through Testing; Assembly; Testing and Assembly for LCD, OLED and Other Display Panel Driver Semiconductors; Bumping; and Others segments. The company provides a range of back-end assembly and testing services, including engineering test, wafer probing, and final test of memory and logic/mixed-signal semiconductors, as well as leadframe-based and organic substrate-based package assembly services for memory and logic/mixed-signal semiconductors; and gold bumping, and testing and assembly services for LCD, OLED, and other panel display driver semiconductors. Its semiconductors are used in personal computers; office automation and consumer electronics; and communications equipment applications. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.