Financial Contrast: United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC) & SemiLEDS (NASDAQ:LEDS)
by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets DailySemiLEDS (NASDAQ:LEDS – Get Free Report) and United Microelectronics (NYSE:UMC – Get Free Report) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and risk.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares SemiLEDS and United Microelectronics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| SemiLEDS | $43.01 million | 0.21 | -$1.13 million | ($0.16) | -6.94 |
| United Microelectronics | $237.55 billion | 0.10 | $1.34 billion | $0.54 | 16.84 |
United Microelectronics has higher revenue and earnings than SemiLEDS. SemiLEDS is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than United Microelectronics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
SemiLEDS has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Microelectronics has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
76.3% of SemiLEDS shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 5.1% of United Microelectronics shares are held by institutional investors. 57.4% of SemiLEDS shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of United Microelectronics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for SemiLEDS and United Microelectronics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| SemiLEDS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| United Microelectronics | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1.83 |
United Microelectronics has a consensus target price of $8.60, suggesting a potential downside of 5.44%. Given United Microelectronics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe United Microelectronics is more favorable than SemiLEDS.
Profitability
This table compares SemiLEDS and United Microelectronics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| SemiLEDS | -2.99% | -42.61% | -6.96% |
| United Microelectronics | 17.60% | 11.45% | 7.45% |
Summary
United Microelectronics beats SemiLEDS on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About SemiLEDS
SemiLEDs Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells light emitting diode (LED) chips, LED components, and LED modules and systems in the United States, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, and internationally. The company also sells enhanced vertical, LED product series in blue, white, green, and UV; LED chips to packagers or distributors; and lighting products primarily to original design manufacturers of lighting products and the end-users of lighting devices, as well as packs and sells its LED chips. Its products are used for general lighting applications, including commercial, industrial, and residential lighting; and specialty industrial applications, such as ultraviolet or UV, curing of polymers, LED light therapy in medical/cosmetic applications, counterfeit detection, germicidal and viricidal devices LED lighting for horticulture applications, architectural lighting, and entertainment lighting. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Chu-Nan, Taiwan.
About United Microelectronics
United Microelectronics Corporation operates as a semiconductor wafer foundry in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides circuit design, mask tooling, wafer fabrication, and assembly and testing services. It serves fabless design companies and integrated device manufacturers. United Microelectronics Corporation was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Hsinchu City, Taiwan.