Advantest (OTCMKTS:ATEYY) & Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) Critical Analysis

Advantest (OTCMKTS:ATEYY) and Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Advantest and Keysight Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Advantest	0	1	0	0	2.00
Keysight Technologies	1	0	8	0	2.78

Keysight Technologies has a consensus target price of $183.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.54%. Given Keysight Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Keysight Technologies is more favorable than Advantest.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Advantest shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.6% of Keysight Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Keysight Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Advantest and Keysight Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Advantest	19.95%	29.15%	18.39%
Keysight Technologies	14.50%	19.65%	10.71%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Advantest and Keysight Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Advantest	$5.12 billion	10.63	$1.06 billion	$1.22	60.43
Keysight Technologies	$4.98 billion	5.47	$614.00 million	$4.26	37.18

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

Risk and Volatility

Advantest has a beta of 1.6, suggesting that its stock price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Keysight Technologies has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Advantest beats Keysight Technologies on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Advantest

Advantest Corporation manufactures and sells semiconductors, component test system products, and mechatronics related products in Japan, the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The company operates through three segments: Semiconductor and Component Test System; Mechatronics Related Business; and Services, Support and Others. The Semiconductor and Component Test System segment provides customers with test system products for the semiconductor industry and the electronic parts industry, as well as offers test systems for SoC semiconductor devices, and test systems for memory semiconductors devices. The Mechatronics Related Business segment provides test handlers; mechatronic-applied products for handling semiconductor devices; and device interfaces, which serve as interfaces with the devices that are measured, as well as nano-technology related products. The Services, Support and Others segment provides test solutions of system level testing customer solutions for the semiconductor and modules, and support services. This segment is also involved in the sale of consumables and used products, and equipment lease and other businesses. It also engages in the research and development activities and provides maintenance and support services. The company was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Keysight Technologies

Keysight Technologies, Inc. provides electronic design and test solutions to commercial communications, networking, aerospace, defense and government, automotive, energy, semiconductor, electronic, and education industries in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Communications Solutions Group and Electronic Industrial Solutions Group. It offers electronic design automation (EDA) software; instrument measurement software, instrument workflow software, and software testing; digital multimeter, phase noise measurement, power meters and power sensors, counters, LCR meters and impedance measurement products, and electrometers; and spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, logic analyzers, protocol analyzers and exercisers, bit error ratio testers, noise figure analyzers, AC and DC power analyzers, materials test equipment, device current waveform analyzers, and curve tracers. The company also provides waveform and function generators, arbitrary waveform generators, DC power supplies, and DC electronic loads; wireless drive test, radio access and core network test, wireless analyzers, wireless network emulators, and over-the-air test; application and threat intelligence, cloud test, cyber training simulator, network test hardware, synthetic traffic generators, protocol and load test, network security test, and network modeling; bypass switches, clock synchronization, cloud visibility, network and application monitoring, network packet brokers, and network taps; and application-specific test systems, photonic test and measurement products, and MMIC millimeter-wave and microwave devices. In addition, it offers product support, technical support, installation, training, engineering, and integration services. The company sells its products through direct sales force, distributors, resellers, and manufacturer's representatives. Keysight Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1939 and is headquartered in Santa Rosa, California.