Head-To-Head Review: Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT) vs. Maxeon Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:MAXN)

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.4% of Nextpower shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.7% of Maxeon Solar Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Nextpower shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Maxeon Solar Technologies shares are held 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 & Risk

Nextpower has a beta of 2.41, meaning that its stock price is 141% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Maxeon Solar Technologies has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nextpower	$2.96 billion	6.02	$509.17 million	$3.91	30.70
Maxeon Solar Technologies	$509.05 million	0.05	-$614.30 million	($163.07)	-0.01

Nextpower has higher revenue and earnings than Maxeon Solar Technologies. Maxeon 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 Maxeon Solar Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nextpower	16.43%	32.01%	17.25%
Maxeon Solar Technologies	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Nextpower and Maxeon Solar Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nextpower	0	6	19	1	2.81
Maxeon Solar Technologies	1	0	0	0	1.00

Nextpower currently has a consensus price target of $111.49, indicating a potential downside of 7.11%. Given Nextpower’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Nextpower is more favorable than Maxeon Solar Technologies.

Summary

Nextpower beats Maxeon Solar Technologies on 14 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 Maxeon Solar Technologies

Maxeon Solar Technologies, Ltd. designs, manufactures, markets, and sells solar panels and related solar system components worldwide. The company provides interdigitated back contact and shingled solar cells and panels under the SunPower brand. It offers its products to dealers, project developers, system integrators, distributors, resellers, and residential and small-scale commercial customers. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Singapore.