Analyzing Solar Thin Films (OTCMKTS:SLTZ) and Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT)

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) and Solar Thin Films (OTCMKTS:SLTZ) are both energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.4% of Nextpower shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Nextpower shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.0% of Solar Thin Films shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Nextpower and Solar Thin Films, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nextpower	0	6	18	1	2.80
Solar Thin Films	0	0	0	0	0.00

Nextpower presently has a consensus target price of $108.32, suggesting a potential downside of 7.49%. Given Solar Thin Films’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Solar Thin Films is more favorable than Nextpower.

Profitability

This table compares Nextpower and Solar Thin Films’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nextpower	16.43%	32.01%	17.25%
Solar Thin Films	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nextpower and Solar Thin Films”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nextpower	$2.96 billion	5.87	$509.17 million	$3.91	29.95
Solar Thin Films	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Nextpower has higher revenue and earnings than Solar Thin Films.

Summary

Nextpower beats Solar Thin Films on 8 of the 10 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 Solar Thin Films

Solar Thin Films, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and installs thin-film amorphous silicon photovoltaic manufacturing equipment used in plants that produce photovoltaic thin-film a-Si solar panels or modules. The company serves businesses and investment partnerships engaged in the production of photovoltaic thin-film modules; and corporations and governments involved in the construction of solar power plants principally in the United States, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, and Asia. Solar Thin Films, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is based in New York, New York.