Reviewing Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) & Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT)

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) and Ascent Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:ASTI) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nextpower	$2.96 billion	4.55	$509.17 million	$3.85	23.55
Ascent Solar Technologies	$61,134.00	89.35	-$9.13 million	($2.92)	-0.54

Nextpower has higher revenue and earnings than Ascent Solar Technologies. Ascent Solar Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nextpower, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nextpower	17.08%	35.05%	18.13%
Ascent Solar Technologies	N/A	-216.56%	-98.27%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Nextpower and Ascent Solar Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nextpower	0	9	17	1	2.70
Ascent Solar Technologies	1	0	0	0	1.00

Nextpower currently has a consensus target price of $95.76, indicating a potential upside of 5.62%. Given Nextpower’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Nextpower is more favorable than Ascent Solar Technologies.

Risk & Volatility

Nextpower has a beta of 2.31, meaning that its share price is 131% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ascent Solar Technologies has a beta of 3.52, meaning that its share price is 252% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.4% of Nextpower shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.6% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Nextpower shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.2% of Ascent Solar Technologies shares are owned by company 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.

Summary

Nextpower beats Ascent Solar Technologies on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nextpower

Nextpower, formerly known as Nextracker, an energy solutions company, provides solar trackers and software solutions for utility-scale and distributed generation solar projects in the United States and internationally. The company offers tracking solutions, which includes NX Horizon, a solar tracking solution; and NX Horizon-XTR, a terrain-following tracker designed to expand the addressable market for trackers on sites with sloped, uneven, and challenging terrain. It also provides TrueCapture, a self-adjusting tracker control system, which boosts solar power plant production by optimizing the position of individual tracker row in response to site features, such as varying topography and changing weather conditions; and NX Navigator, that assists solar power plant owners and operators in monitoring, controlling, and protecting their solar projects. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Fremont, California. As of March 31, 2024 Nextracker Inc. (Nextpower) was formerly a subsidiary of Flex Ltd.

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.