Critical Analysis: Actelis Networks (NASDAQ:ASNS) and Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE)

Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) and Actelis Networks (NASDAQ:ASNS) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

94.1% of Lumentum shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.4% of Actelis Networks shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Lumentum shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.5% of Actelis Networks shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Lumentum and Actelis Networks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lumentum	-40.70%	-6.79%	-1.75%
Actelis Networks	-56.82%	-752.62%	-45.14%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Lumentum and Actelis Networks”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lumentum	$1.36 billion	4.70	-$546.50 million	($8.28)	-11.22
Actelis Networks	$7.72 million	0.93	-$6.29 million	($1.25)	-0.92

Actelis Networks has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Lumentum. Lumentum is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Actelis Networks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Lumentum and Actelis Networks, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lumentum	2	3	8	0	2.46
Actelis Networks	0	0	0	0	0.00

Lumentum presently has a consensus target price of $74.85, suggesting a potential downside of 19.45%. Given Lumentum’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Lumentum is more favorable than Actelis Networks.

Volatility & Risk

Lumentum has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Actelis Networks has a beta of 2.02, meaning that its stock price is 102% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lumentum beats Actelis Networks on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lumentum

Lumentum Holdings Inc. manufactures and sells optical and photonic products in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company operates through two segments: Optical Communications (OpComms) and Commercial Lasers (Lasers). The OpComms segment offers components, modules, and subsystems that enable the transmission and transport of video, audio, and data over high-capacity fiber optic cables. It offers tunable transponders, transceivers, and transmitter modules; tunable lasers, receivers, and modulators; transport products, such as reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers, amplifiers, and optical channel monitors, as well as components, including 980nm, multi-mode, and Raman pumps; and switches, attenuators, photodetectors, gain flattening filters, isolators, wavelength-division multiplexing filters, arrayed waveguide gratings, multiplex/de-multiplexers, and integrated passive modules. This segment also provides Super Transport Blade, which integrates optical transport functions into a single-slot blade; vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers; directly modulated and electro-absorption modulated lasers; and laser illumination sources for 3D sensing systems. It serves customers in telecommunications, data communications, and consumer and industrial markets. The Commercial Lasers segment offers diode-pumped solid-state, fiber, diode, direct-diode, and gas lasers, such as argon-ion and helium-neon lasers for use in original equipment manufacturer applications. It serves customers in markets and applications, such as sheet metal processing, general manufacturing, biotechnology, solar cell processing, graphics and imaging, remote sensing, and precision machining. Lumentum Holdings Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Actelis Networks

Actelis Networks, Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of cyber hardened, hybrid fiber, networking solutions for Internet of Things and telecommunication companies in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Israel, and the Asia Pacific. It provides rapid-deployment networking solutions for wide-area IoT applications, including federal, state, and local governments; intelligent traffic systems; and military, utility, rail, telecom, and campus applications. The company’s products include ethernet access devices; network aggregator switches; and Advanced MetaLIGHT/ Gigaline element management systems software, which enables remote management, monitoring, maintenance, and configuration of the installed equipment in the network. It also offers dynamic spectral software; and access broadband equipment. It serves offers its products through system integrators, distributors, contractors, resellers, and consultants. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.