AXTI vs Q vs PLAB Stock Comparison

Axt, Qnity Electronics and Photronics Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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AXTI Axt Inc
$60.88 -22.1% 1M +761.1% 1Y
Market cap
$3.31B
P/E
105.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$172.00M
Div. yield
–
Semiconductor Materials Technology
3 wins
Q Qnity Electronics, Inc.
$122.68 -2.4% 1M +30.5% 1Y
Market cap
$24.34B
P/E
41.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$5.21B
Div. yield
0.00%
Specialty Chemicals Basic Materials
2 wins
PLAB Photronics Inc
$29.12 -6.3% 1M +20.7% 1Y
Market cap
$1.59B
P/E
9.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$866.82M
Div. yield
–
Semiconductor Materials Technology
6 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.

QuestionAXTIQPLABLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.31B $24.34B $1.59B Q
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 105.9x 41.5x 9.6x PLAB
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 73.3x 28.2x 15.2x PLAB
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +90.3% +14.8% +1.2% AXTI
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — 11.2% 19.0% PLAB
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 8.3% 9.8% PLAB
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 1.8x -2.4x PLAB
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +761.1% +30.5% +20.7% AXTI
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +49.5%/yr — +17.5%/yr AXTI
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 150.7% 55.3% 84.0% Q
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers — 59/100 65/100 PLAB

Percentile Scorecard

AXTIQPLAB

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

AxisAXTIQPLAB
Valuation 15 #80 of 94 37 #60 of 94 98 #3 of 94
Growth 96 #5 of 92 52 #45 of 92 41 #55 of 92
Profitability – 88 #11 of 86 71 #26 of 88
Financial Health – 65 #33 of 93 85 #15 of 96
Shareholder Returns – 56 #32 of 71 30 #51 of 72
Overall – 59 65
  • AXTI ranked among 103 companies in Semiconductors
  • Q ranked among 99 companies in Chemicals
  • PLAB ranked among 103 companies in Semiconductors

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodAXTIQPLABSPY
1 month -22.1%-2.4%-6.3% +0.7%
3 months +29.7%-6.0%-1.6% +3.7%
6 months -23.2%-12.8%-41.1% +7.1%
Year to date +272.4%+50.3%-9.0% +12.8%
1 year +761.1%+30.5%+20.7% +11.9%
3 years +2,899.0%—+60.0% +85.2%
3 years, per year +210.9%—+17.0% +22.8%
5 years +645.2%—+124.2% +67.6%
5 years, per year +49.5%—+17.5% +10.9%
10 years +1,068.5%—+195.6% +262.0%
10 years, per year +27.9%—+11.5% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureAXTIQPLABSPY
Volatility, 1Y 150.7%55.3%84.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 141.9%58.7%88.4% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 4.222.662.87 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 5.050.550.25 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -88.1%-38.1%-50.6% -25.4%
From 52-week high -56.8%-30.2%-47.0% -1.2%
52-week high $140.83$175.64$54.96 $779.14
52-week low $7.07$73.54$20.28 $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.

MultipleAXTIQPLAB
P/E now vs peer median 119.2xmedian 46.4x 43.9xmedian 21.0x 10.3xmedian 46.4x
P/S now vs peer median 23.2xmedian 7.8x 4.9xmedian 1.4x 2.0xmedian 7.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 27.5x 16.7xmedian 12.9x 3.8xmedian 27.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median —median 40.1x 31.1xmedian 15.5x 15.3xmedian 40.1x
P/B now vs peer median —median 4.7x 3.4xmedian 1.7x 1.0xmedian 4.7x
PEG now vs peer median 2.22median 2.10 —median 1.68 0.74median 2.10

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 monthsAXTIQPLAB
Revenue $172.00M $5.21B $866.82M
Gross profit $73.51M $2.41B $291.73M
Operating income $33.89M $1.34B $194.65M
Net income $37.27M $630.00M $225.93M
Free cash flow – $825.00M $110.48M
R&D $11.00M $374.00M $12.30M
EPS (diluted) $0.49 $2.79 $2.81
Cash & equivalents $485.47M $961.00M $549.51M
Total debt – $4.02B $3.89M
Shares (diluted) 63.47M 210.20M 58.72M
Enterprise value $3.31B $21.48B -$943.97M

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
MetricAXTIQPLAB
P/E 119.2x 43.9x 10.3x
P/FCF – 31.1x 15.3x
P/Operating cash flow – 22.0x 5.5x
P/S 23.2x 4.9x 2.0x
P/B – 3.4x 1.0x
P/Tangible book – 3.9x 1.0x
EV/EBITDA – 16.7x 3.8x
EV/EBIT – 21.5x 5.3x
EV/Revenue 23.2x 5.5x 1.2x
EV/FCF – 34.8x 9.3x
EV/Operating cash flow – 24.6x 3.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 2.22 – 0.74

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAXTIQPLAB
Revenue growth (1Y) 90.3% 14.8% 1.2%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 27.9% – -0.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 579.1% 13.3% -4.9%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 62.0% – -4.2%
Operating income growth (1Y) 239.4% 11.6% -8.1%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 55.8% – -7.9%
Net income growth (1Y) 249.0% -23.6% 48.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 67.2% – 5.6%
EPS growth (1Y) 194.2% -26.4% 50.5%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 53.6% – 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
MetricAXTIQPLAB
Gross margin – 46.2% 33.7%
EBITDA margin – 33.0% 31.6%
Operating margin – 25.6% 22.5%
Pretax margin – 16.9% 29.9%
Net margin – 11.2% 19.0%
FCF margin – 15.8% 12.7%
Operating cash flow margin – 22.4% 35.6%
Return on equity – 8.4% 13.1%
Return on assets 3.2% 4.4% 11.5%
Return on invested capital – 8.3% 9.8%
Return on capital employed – 10.5% 11.0%
Asset turnover 0.1x 0.4x 0.4x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – 1.9x 1.4x
Stock comp / revenue – 0.7% 1.6%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAXTIQPLAB
Debt / assets – 28.1% 0.2%
Debt / equity – 0.5x 0.0x
Net debt / EBITDA – 1.8x -2.4x
Debt / FCF – 4.9x 0.0x
Liabilities / assets 19.3% 47.3% 12.4%
Equity / assets – 52.7% 87.6%
Interest coverage – 7.1x 5,407x
Current ratio 3.8x 2.0x 4.9x
Quick ratio – 1.5x 4.5x
Cash ratio – 0.7x 3.4x
Altman Z-score – 3.09 5.96

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAXTIQPLAB
Dividend yield – 0.2% –
Net buyback yield – 0.2% -0.1%
Shareholder yield – 0.4% -0.1%
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.

ConsensusAXTIQPLAB
Forward P/E 73.3xFY2026 28.2xFY2026 15.2xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $0.83FY2026 $4.35FY2026 $1.91FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – +29.9%FY2026 -5.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +159.0% +21.8% +9.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year $215.33MFY2026 $5.34BFY2026 $908.29MFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +143.8%FY2026 +12.5%FY2026 +6.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +117.5% +23.3% +3.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAXTIQPLAB
Held by institutions 70.1% 77.2% 94.6%
Institutions holding 259 1,326 314
Change in shares held, QoQ +41.3% +4.4% -1.1%
Institutions buying 205 659 163
Institutions selling 47 439 116
Buyers to sellers 4.36 1.50 1.41

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.

AXTIQPLAB
AXTI 1.00 0.42 0.37
Q 0.42 1.00 0.48
PLAB 0.37 0.48 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, AXTI, Q and PLAB?

Qnity Electronics (Q) is the largest by market capitalisation: Axt (AXTI) $3.31B, Qnity Electronics (Q) $24.34B, Photronics (PLAB) $1.59B.

Which stock is cheaper, AXTI, Q and PLAB?

Photronics (PLAB) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Axt (AXTI) 105.9x, Qnity Electronics (Q) 41.5x, Photronics (PLAB) 9.6x). On next year's consensus earnings, Photronics (PLAB) is cheapest (Axt (AXTI) 73.3x, Qnity Electronics (Q) 28.2x, Photronics (PLAB) 15.2x). 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) +90.3%, Qnity Electronics (Q) +14.8%, Photronics (PLAB) +1.2%.

Which company is more profitable?

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

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Axt (AXTI) returned the most: Axt (AXTI) +761.1%, Qnity Electronics (Q) +30.5%, Photronics (PLAB) +20.7%. Over five years, Axt (AXTI) compounded fastest (Axt (AXTI) +49.5%/yr, Photronics (PLAB) +17.5%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Axt (AXTI) 0.00%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 0.00%, Photronics (PLAB) 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) 150.7%, Qnity Electronics (Q) 55.3%, Photronics (PLAB) 84.0%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

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.