Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (ASPN) vs Lightwave Logic Inc. (LWLG)

Aspen Aerogels, Inc. and Lightwave Logic Inc. are both Specialty Chemicals companies. Lightwave Logic Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $588.2M against $428.2M — 1.4× the size. Lightwave Logic Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 165.5% against −39.3%. Aspen Aerogels, Inc. has the higher net margin (−60.8% vs −9,410.7%) and the higher return on invested capital (−131.5% vs −187.6%). Across the 17 metrics below, Aspen Aerogels, Inc. leads on 10 and Lightwave Logic Inc. on 7.

Valuation

Metric ASPN LWLG Specialty Chemicals median
P/E n/m n/m 24.46
P/S 1.98 2,353.68 1.64
P/B 2.30 5.65 1.88
Price to free cash flow 14.68 n/m 19.15
EV/EBITDA n/m n/m 12.87
EV/Sales 1.73 1,970.65 1.88
Earnings yield (30.98%) (4.17%) 2.42%
Free cash flow yield 6.81% (3.22%) 2.25%

Profitability

Metric ASPN LWLG Specialty Chemicals median
Gross margin 2.42% 98.88% 27.84%
Operating margin (59.33%) (9,964.14%) 5.64%
Net margin (60.81%) (9,410.74%) 4.19%
Free cash flow margin 13.47% (7,567.97%) 3.49%
Return on equity (53.16%) (35.42%) 2.34%
Return on assets (29.43%) (33.54%) 0.45%
Return on invested capital (131.54%) (187.60%) 3.21%

Growth

Metric ASPN LWLG Specialty Chemicals median
Revenue growth (TTM) (39.28%) 165.54% 6.39%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (2,882.35%) 15.79% (9.77%)
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 22.01% — 6.33%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Health

Metric ASPN LWLG Specialty Chemicals median
Debt to equity 0.12 0.00 0.59
Current ratio 2.10 62.84 2.28
Net debt to EBITDA 0.16 3.81 2.03

Dividend

Metric ASPN LWLG Specialty Chemicals median
Dividend yield — — 1.80%
Payout ratio — — 0.40

Size

Metric ASPN LWLG Specialty Chemicals median
Market cap 428.23m 588.15m 2.08b

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