Head to Head Survey: Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN) and Ouster (NYSE:OUST)

Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN) and Ouster (NYSE:OUST) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and earnings.

Risk & Volatility

Palladyne AI has a beta of 3.37, suggesting that its stock price is 237% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ouster has a beta of 2.47, suggesting that its stock price is 147% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Palladyne AI and Ouster, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Palladyne AI	0	0	0	0	N/A
Ouster	0	3	2	0	2.40

Ouster has a consensus price target of $12.10, suggesting a potential upside of 25.39%. Given Ouster’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ouster is more favorable than Palladyne AI.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

26.0% of Palladyne AI shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.5% of Ouster shares are held by institutional investors. 12.0% of Palladyne AI shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.8% of Ouster shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Palladyne AI and Ouster’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Palladyne AI	$6.15 million	6.75	-$115.59 million	($3.94)	-0.40
Ouster	$91.99 million	4.74	-$374.11 million	($5.58)	-1.73

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

Profitability

This table compares Palladyne AI and Ouster’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Palladyne AI	-1,390.02%	-74.87%	-57.30%
Ouster	-239.89%	-88.42%	-50.61%

Summary

Palladyne AI beats Ouster on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Palladyne AI

Palladyne AI Corp., a software company, focuses on delivering software that enhances the utility and functionality of third-party stationary and mobile robotic systems in the United States. Its Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) software platform enables robots to observe, learn, reason, and act in structured and unstructured environments. The company's software platform enables robotic systems to perceive their environment and quickly adapt to changing circumstances by generalizing from their experience using dynamic real-time operations without extensive programming and with minimal robot training. It serves customers from various industries, such as industrial manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, defense, infrastructure maintenance and repair, energy, aerospace and aviation, and others. The company was formerly known as Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation and changed its name to Palladyne AI Corp. in March 2024. Palladyne AI Corp. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About Ouster

Ouster, Inc. provides lidar sensors for the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries in Americas, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its products include high-resolution scanning and solid-state digital lidar sensors, analog lidar sensors, and software solutions. The company offers Ouster Sensor, a scanning sensor; and Digital Flash, a solid-state flash sensor. It also provides surround-view lidar sensors, which include Ouster Gemini, a perception platform for smart infrastructure deployments; and Blue City, a Gemini-powered solution for traffic operations, planning, and safety. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.