Critical Survey: IQE (OTCMKTS:IQEPF) versus Quantum-Si (NASDAQ:QSI)

IQE (OTCMKTS:IQEPF) and Quantum-Si (NASDAQ:QSI) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares IQE and Quantum-Si”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IQE	$150.84 million	0.39	-$48.79 million	N/A	N/A
Quantum-Si	$3.06 million	99.65	-$101.01 million	($0.67)	-2.11

IQE has higher revenue and earnings than Quantum-Si.

Volatility and Risk

IQE has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Quantum-Si has a beta of 2.97, indicating that its stock price is 197% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares IQE and Quantum-Si’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IQE	N/A	N/A	N/A
Quantum-Si	-3,677.97%	-47.90%	-42.56%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

39.9% of Quantum-Si shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.0% of Quantum-Si shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for IQE and Quantum-Si, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IQE	0	0	0	0	0.00
Quantum-Si	1	1	2	0	2.25

Quantum-Si has a consensus price target of $3.73, suggesting a potential upside of 163.25%. Given Quantum-Si’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Quantum-Si is more favorable than IQE.

Summary

Quantum-Si beats IQE on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IQE

IQE plc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells advanced semiconductor materials. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Photonics, and CMOS++. The company manufactures and sells compound semiconductor materials for the wireless market which includes radio frequency devices for wireless communications, and photonics market, that includes applications that transmit and sense visible and infrared lights, as well as advanced semiconductor materials related to silicon. It operates in the United States, rest of the Americas, France, Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the People's Republic of China, Japan, Taiwan, and rest of the Asia-Pacific. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Cardiff, the United Kingdom.

About Quantum-Si

Quantum-Si incorporated, a life sciences company, engages in the development of single-molecule detection platform to enable Next Generation Protein Sequencing (NGPS). The company's platform is comprised of the Platinum NGPS instrument; the Platinum Analysis Software service; and reagent kits and semiconductor chips for use with its instruments. It is used in protein identification, protein variants, antibody characterization, biomarker identification, and post translational modification analysis applications. The company was founded in 2013 is headquartered in Branford, Connecticut.