ACMR vs ONTO Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
ACMR specializes in wafer cleaning and surface preparation equipment with heavy China exposure, while ONTO focuses on semiconductor process control and metrology serving global leading-edge chipmakers. Both serve the semiconductor equipment market but at different process steps and with very different geographic customer concentrations.
ACMR vs ONTO compares two semiconductor equipment specialists: ACM Research's China-concentrated cleaning equipment business versus Onto Innovation's globally diversified process control metrology tools.
ONTO holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. ONTO leads on both 1-year return (+113.60%) and forward P/E quality (21.84x vs 24.89x for ACMR), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, ACMR is growing revenue faster (36.00%), while ONTO maintains the higher operating margin (22.97%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for ACMR (+63.54%) than for ONTO (+52.60%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to China's domestic semiconductor manufacturing buildout
- Believe ACM Research's proprietary cleaning technology can sustain growth amid export control uncertainty
- Are comfortable with higher geopolitical risk exposure for potentially higher growth rates
- Want exposure to semiconductor process control equipment serving global leading-edge chipmakers
- Value Onto Innovation's diversified global customer base reducing single-geography risk
- Believe increasing process complexity at advanced nodes will drive sustained metrology equipment demand
| Metric | ACMR | ONTO |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 63.3 | 64.9 |
| AI ranki | #104 | #84 |
| Latest closei | $68.51 | $263.43 |
| 1M returni | -11.70% | -12.04% |
| 6M returni | +57.31% | +25.77% |
| 1Y returni | +89.83% | +113.60% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | ACMR | ONTO |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $18.98K (+89.8%) started 2025-09-18 | $21.36K (+113.6%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | $20.91K (+109.1%) started 2021-09-20 | $35.53K (+255.3%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $367.02K (+3570.2%) started 2017-11-02 | $74.56K (+645.6%) started 2019-10-28 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | ACMR | ONTO |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $5.01B | $15.56B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 33.96 | 95.34 |
| Forward P/Ei | 24.89 | 21.84 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 4.31 | 10.87 |
| Analyst targeti | $117.75 | $388.45 |
| Target upsidei | +63.54% | +52.60% |
| Metric | ACMR | ONTO |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 36.00% | 35.30% |
| Earnings growthi | 180.60% | 75.40% |
| EPS growthi | +180.60% | +75.40% |
| FCF margini | -17.98% | +18.12% |
| Operating margini | 16.98% | 22.97% |
| Profit margini | 14.48% | 11.84% |
| ROIC proxyi | 11.63% | 6.83% |
| Return on equityi | 11.63% | 6.83% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | N/A |
| Betai | 1.95 | 1.59 |
| Debt/equityi | 14.52 | 76.55 |
| Current ratioi | 3.66 | 9.73 |
| Quick ratioi | 2.60 | 8.17 |
Over the past year, ACMR and ONTO have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.68), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | ACMR | ONTO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +89.83% | +113.60% |
| CAGRi | +89.91% | +113.71% | |
| Volatilityi | 86.70% | 71.68% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.12 | 1.36 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.69 | 2.06 | |
| Max drawdowni | 49.61% | 42.31% | |
| Current drawdowni | 46.01% | 30.39% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 19.25% | 10.22% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 24.40% | 13.99% | |
| Max daily dropi | 19.95% | 12.46% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 27.05% | 26.06% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +109.15% | +255.27% |
| CAGRi | +15.92% | +28.90% | |
| Volatilityi | 82.20% | 59.18% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.53 | 0.65 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.82 | 0.94 | |
| Max drawdowni | 84.81% | 62.82% | |
| Current drawdowni | 46.01% | 30.39% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 44.05% | 21.65% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 49.04% | 27.35% | |
| Max daily dropi | 26.50% | 30.21% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 41.14% | 30.37% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +3570.18% | +645.63% |
| CAGRi | +50.07% | +33.85% | |
| Volatilityi | 84.09% | 58.06% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.85 | 0.72 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.33 | 1.04 | |
| Max drawdowni | 87.23% | 62.82% | |
| Current drawdowni | 46.01% | 30.39% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 38.91% | 18.76% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 44.98% | 24.59% | |
| Max daily dropi | 28.18% | 30.21% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 41.14% | 30.37% |
| Category | ACMR | ONTO |
|---|---|---|
| Company | ACM Research, Inc. | Onto Innovation Inc. |
| Sector | Technology | Technology |
| Industry | Semiconductor Equipment & Materials | Semiconductor Equipment & Materials |
| Core business | ACM Research develops and supplies semiconductor wafer cleaning and surface preparation equipment, primarily for logic and memory chip manufacturers in China, with growing expansion into South Korea and other international markets. | Onto Innovation provides semiconductor process control and metrology equipment, helping chipmakers measure and inspect wafers during manufacturing to detect defects and ensure process quality across advanced logic and memory fabs. |
| Investor focus | Investors track ACM Research's revenue growth in China and international markets, customer concentration risk, and the company's ability to navigate U.S. export controls affecting semiconductor equipment sales to China. | Investors track Onto Innovation's metrology tool orders from leading-edge logic and memory customers, its penetration at advanced node chipmakers including TSMC and memory leaders, and margins as product mix shifts. |
- Leading position in electrochemical plating and wet cleaning equipment for wafer processing
- Strong growth in China's domestic semiconductor manufacturing buildout
- Proprietary SAPS (single-wafer, alternating-phase shift) cleaning technology provides product differentiation
- Strong position in advanced wafer metrology and inspection serving leading-edge logic and memory fabs
- Benefits from increasing process complexity at advanced nodes, which requires more process control steps
- Diversified customer base across leading global chipmakers reduces single-customer risk
- Highly concentrated in China revenue, creating exposure to U.S.-China tech export control risk
- Export control changes could restrict ACM's ability to sell certain advanced equipment to Chinese customers
- Customer concentration in a limited number of major Chinese semiconductor manufacturers
- Semiconductor equipment spending is cyclically tied to chipmaker capital expenditure cycles
- Competes against larger semiconductor equipment players like KLA Corporation in the process control space
- Advanced node customer concentration means capex cycles at a few large fabs drive significant order variability
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