Contrasting Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) and Cepton (NASDAQ:CPTN)

Cepton (NASDAQ:CPTN) and Luminar Technologies (NASDAQ:LAZR) are both small-cap auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Cepton and Luminar Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cepton	0	2	0	0	2.00
Luminar Technologies	2	2	3	0	2.14

Luminar Technologies has a consensus target price of $6.39, suggesting a potential upside of 280.10%. Given Luminar Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Luminar Technologies is more favorable than Cepton.

Profitability

This table compares Cepton and Luminar Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cepton	-371.83%	N/A	-47.76%
Luminar Technologies	-818.68%	N/A	-93.83%

Volatility & Risk

Cepton has a beta of 0.07, suggesting that its stock price is 93% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Luminar Technologies has a beta of 1.54, suggesting that its stock price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cepton and Luminar Technologies’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cepton	$13.06 million	3.72	-$48.55 million	($3.03)	-1.01
Luminar Technologies	$69.78 million	10.16	-$571.27 million	($1.47)	-1.14

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

68.2% of Cepton shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.0% of Luminar Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 38.2% of Cepton shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 29.3% of Luminar Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Luminar Technologies beats Cepton on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cepton

Cepton, Inc. provides lidar-based solutions for automotive, smart cities, smart spaces, and smart industrial applications in the United States, Japan, China, and internationally. The company offers autograde lidar sensors, including Cepton Ultra, a slimmest lidar with MagnoSteer technology and proprietary ASIC chipset, enabling a combination of 300-meter range at 10% reflectivity and 0.05° resolution; Vista-X, a compact lidar solution with a range of up to 200m for long-range applications in ADAS L2+/L3, AV L4/L5, and suitable for smart infrastructure applications; and Nova, an extremely-small form factor lidar solution with a range of up to 30m for near-range applications in ADAS L2+/L3, AV L4/L5, and suitable for smart infrastructure applications. It also provides industrial grade lidar sensors, such as Vista-P, a compact lidar solution with a range of up to 200m for long-range applications in ADAS L2+/L3, AV L4/L5, and smart infrastructure applications; and Sora-P, an ultra-high scan rate, compact, and quasi line-scanning lidar solution that delivers high-fidelity profiling of objects moving at high speeds for free flow tolling and other industrial applications. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Luminar Technologies

Luminar Technologies, Inc., an automotive technology company, provides sensor technologies and software for passenger cars and commercial trucks in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. It operates in two segments, Autonomy Solutions and Advanced Technologies and Services. The Autonomy Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and sells laser imaging, detection, and ranging sensors or lidars, as well as related perception and autonomy software solutions primarily for original equipment manufacturers in the automobile, commercial vehicle, robo-taxi, and adjacent industries. The Advanced Technologies and Services segment develops application-specific integrated circuits, pixel-based sensors, and advanced lasers. This segment also designs, tests, and provides consulting services for non-standard integrated circuits for use in automobile and aeronautics sector, as well as government spending in military and defense activities. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.