AXTI vs PLAB vs Q Stock Comparison

Axt, Photronics and Qnity Electronics Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
AXTI Axt Inc
$52.08 -28.6% 1M +905.4% 1Y
Market cap
$3.45B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$116.56M
Div. yield
–
Semiconductor Materials Technology
3 wins
PLAB Photronics Inc
$28.15 -7.2% 1M +17.6% 1Y
Market cap
$1.62B
P/E
9.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$866.82M
Div. yield
–
Semiconductor Materials Technology
6 wins
Q Qnity Electronics, Inc.
$109.85 -11.8% 1M
Market cap
$23.93B
P/E
40.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$5.21B
Div. yield
0.00%
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
2 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Photronics leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Photronics 6, Axt 3, Qnity Electronics 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAXTIPLABQLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.45B $1.62B $23.93B Q
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -2,280x 9.8x 40.8x PLAB
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 63.5x 14.7x 25.3x PLAB
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +35.4% +1.2% +14.8% AXTI
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -1.3% 19.0% 11.2% PLAB
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 0.0% 9.8% 8.3% PLAB
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — -2.4x 1.8x PLAB
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +905.4% +17.6% — AXTI
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +43.6%/yr +18.1%/yr — AXTI
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 151.1% 83.9% 55.2% Q
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 53/100 66/100 61/100 PLAB

Percentile Scorecard

AXTIPLABQ

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisAXTIPLABQ
Valuation 23 #73 of 95 98 #3 of 95 39 #58 of 94
Growth 89 #11 of 93 44 #53 of 93 52 #45 of 92
Profitability 22 #71 of 91 71 #27 of 91 88 #12 of 89
Financial Health 76 #25 of 102 86 #15 of 102 68 #32 of 97
Shareholder Returns – 33 #51 of 76 58 #30 of 70
Overall 53 66 61
  • AXTI ranked among 104 companies in Semiconductors
  • PLAB ranked among 104 companies in Semiconductors
  • Q ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodAXTIPLABQSPY
1 month -28.6%-7.2%-11.8% -1.0%
3 months +10.3%-7.2%-18.7% +2.9%
6 months -31.6%-46.1%-24.0% +6.4%
Year to date +218.5%-12.0%+34.5% +11.4%
1 year +905.4%+17.6%— +13.1%
3 years +2,256.6%+46.3%— +79.4%
3 years, per year +186.9%+13.5%— +21.5%
5 years +509.8%+129.6%— +67.7%
5 years, per year +43.6%+18.1%— +10.9%
10 years +805.7%+185.8%— +255.2%
10 years, per year +24.7%+11.1%— +13.5%

Risk

MeasureAXTIPLABQSPY
Volatility, 1Y 151.1%83.9%55.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 142.2%88.4%58.5% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 4.212.852.64 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 5.990.21— 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -88.1%-50.6%-38.1% -25.4%
From 52-week high -63.0%-48.8%-37.5% -2.5%
52-week high $140.83$54.96$175.64 $779.14
52-week low $5.18$20.28$73.54 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleAXTIPLABQ
P/E now vs peer median -2,110xmedian 41.5x 9.9xmedian 41.5x 39.3xmedian 21.5x
P/S now vs peer median 29.3xmedian 6.9x 1.9xmedian 6.9x 4.4xmedian 1.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 27.3x 3.5xmedian 27.3x 15.1xmedian 12.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median —median 35.6x 14.8xmedian 35.6x 27.9xmedian 15.5x
P/B now vs peer median 3.7xmedian 4.2x 0.9xmedian 4.2x 3.0xmedian 1.6x
PEG now vs peer median -239.47median 2.31 0.71median 2.31 —median 1.70

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsAXTIPLABQ
Revenue $116.56M $866.82M $5.21B
Gross profit $33.85M $291.73M $2.41B
Operating income -$1.28M $194.65M $1.34B
Net income -$156.00K $225.93M $630.00M
Free cash flow – $110.48M $825.00M
R&D $9.58M $12.30M $374.00M
EPS (diluted) $-0.02 $2.81 $2.79
Cash & equivalents $412.17M $549.51M $961.00M
Total debt $278.80M $7.80M $9.77B
Shares (diluted) 63.47M 58.72M 210.20M
Enterprise value $2.69B -$914.01M $21.07B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricAXTIPLABQ
P/E -2,110x 9.9x 39.3x
P/FCF – 14.8x 27.9x
P/Operating cash flow – 5.3x 19.7x
P/S 29.3x 1.9x 4.4x
P/B 3.7x 0.9x 3.0x
P/Tangible book 3.7x 0.9x 3.5x
EV/EBITDA – 3.5x 15.1x
EV/EBIT -2,155x 5.0x 19.5x
EV/Revenue 23.6x 1.1x 5.0x
EV/FCF – 8.8x 31.6x
EV/Operating cash flow – 3.1x 22.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -239.47 0.71 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAXTIPLABQ
Revenue growth (1Y) 35.4% 1.2% 14.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 5.2% -0.3% –
Gross profit growth (1Y) 229.2% -4.9% 13.3%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 3.9% -4.2% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 95.2% -8.1% 11.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 45.1% -7.9% –
Net income growth (1Y) 99.4% 48.8% -23.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 41.9% 5.6% –
EPS growth (1Y) 95.7% 50.5% -26.4%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 8.8% 13.9% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) – 35.1% –
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 3.9% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – 71.2% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – -5.3% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAXTIPLABQ
Gross margin 29.0% 33.7% 46.2%
EBITDA margin – 31.6% 33.0%
Operating margin -1.1% 22.5% 25.6%
Pretax margin 3.0% 29.9% 16.9%
Net margin -1.3% 19.0% 11.2%
FCF margin – 12.7% 15.8%
Operating cash flow margin – 35.6% 22.4%
Return on equity 0.0% 13.1% 8.4%
Return on assets 0.0% 11.5% 4.4%
Return on invested capital 0.0% 9.8% 8.3%
Return on capital employed -0.2% 11.0% 10.5%
Asset turnover 0.2x 0.4x 0.4x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – 1.4x 1.9x
Stock comp / revenue – 1.6% 0.7%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAXTIPLABQ
Debt / assets 8.2% 0.2% 28.1%
Debt / equity 0.1x 0.0x 0.5x
Net debt / EBITDA – -2.4x 1.8x
Debt / FCF – 0.0x 4.9x
Liabilities / assets 16.9% 12.4% 47.3%
Equity / assets 83.1% 87.6% 52.7%
Interest coverage – 5,407x 7.1x
Current ratio 4.8x 4.9x 2.0x
Quick ratio 6.3x 4.5x 1.5x
Cash ratio 6.0x 3.4x 0.7x
Altman Z-score 11.62 5.82 2.85

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAXTIPLABQ
Dividend yield – – 0.3%
Net buyback yield – -0.1% 0.2%
Shareholder yield – -0.1% 0.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 5.4%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 4.1%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusAXTIPLABQ
Forward P/E 63.5xFY2026 14.7xFY2026 25.3xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $0.82FY2026 $1.91FY2026 $4.34FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – -5.0%FY2026 +29.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +162.2% +9.9% +21.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $215.33MFY2026 $908.29MFY2026 $5.34BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +143.8%FY2026 +6.9%FY2026 +12.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +117.5% +3.5% +23.3%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAXTIPLABQ
Held by institutions 70.1% 94.6% –
Institutions holding 259 313 –
Change in shares held, QoQ +41.3% -1.1% –
Institutions buying 205 163 –
Institutions selling 47 115 –
Buyers to sellers 4.36 1.42 –

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

AXTIPLABQ
AXTI 1.00 0.37 0.41
PLAB 0.37 1.00 0.48
Q 0.41 0.48 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, AXTI, PLAB and Q?

Qnity Electronics (Q) is the largest by market capitalisation: Axt (AXTI) $3.45B, Photronics (PLAB) $1.62B, Qnity Electronics (Q) $23.93B.

Which stock is cheaper, AXTI, PLAB and Q?

Photronics (PLAB) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Axt (AXTI) -2,280x, Photronics (PLAB) 9.8x, Qnity Electronics (Q) 40.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Photronics (PLAB) is cheapest (Axt (AXTI) 63.5x, Photronics (PLAB) 14.7x, Qnity Electronics (Q) 25.3x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Axt (AXTI) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Axt (AXTI) +35.4%, Photronics (PLAB) +1.2%, Qnity Electronics (Q) +14.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

Photronics (PLAB) has the highest net margin (Axt (AXTI) -1.3%, Photronics (PLAB) 19.0%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 11.2%). On return on invested capital, Photronics (PLAB) leads (Axt (AXTI) 0.0%, Photronics (PLAB) 9.8%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 8.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Axt (AXTI) returned the most: Axt (AXTI) +905.4%, Photronics (PLAB) +17.6%. Over five years, Axt (AXTI) compounded fastest (Axt (AXTI) +43.6%/yr, Photronics (PLAB) +18.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Axt (AXTI) 0.00%, Photronics (PLAB) 0.00%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 0.00%. Axt (AXTI) and Photronics (PLAB) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Qnity Electronics (Q) has been the steadiest (Axt (AXTI) 151.1%, Photronics (PLAB) 83.9%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 55.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, AXTI, PLAB and Q?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Photronics (PLAB) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.