VeriSign (VRSN) Competitors

EPAM Systems (NYSE:EPAM) and VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, community ranking, media sentiment, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Which has more risk & volatility, EPAM or VRSN?

EPAM Systems has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VeriSign has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer EPAM or VRSN?

EPAM Systems received 252 more outperform votes than VeriSign when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 73.93% of users gave EPAM Systems an outperform vote while only 62.36% of users gave VeriSign an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
EPAM Systems	Outperform Votes 638 73.93%	Underperform Votes 225 26.07%
VeriSign	Outperform Votes 386 62.36%	Underperform Votes 233 37.64%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in EPAM or VRSN?

91.6% of EPAM Systems shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of VeriSign shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of EPAM Systems shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of VeriSign shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate EPAM or VRSN?

EPAM Systems presently has a consensus target price of $315.60, indicating a potential upside of 30.35%. VeriSign has a consensus target price of $218.00, indicating a potential upside of 29.52%. Given VeriSign's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe EPAM Systems is more favorable than VeriSign.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
EPAM Systems	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63
VeriSign	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is EPAM or VRSN more profitable?

VeriSign has a net margin of 55.04% compared to VeriSign's net margin of 8.89%. VeriSign's return on equity of 15.53% beat EPAM Systems' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
EPAM Systems	8.89%	15.53%	12.26%
VeriSign	55.04%	-47.21%	44.58%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, EPAM or VRSN?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
EPAM Systems	$4.69B	2.99	$417.08M	$7.07	34.25
VeriSign	$1.49B	11.23	$817.60M	$8.14	20.68

Does the media prefer EPAM or VRSN?

In the previous week, EPAM Systems had 5 more articles in the media than VeriSign. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for EPAM Systems and 7 mentions for VeriSign. EPAM Systems' average media sentiment score of 0.59 beat VeriSign's score of -0.04 indicating that VeriSign is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
EPAM Systems	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
VeriSign	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

EPAM Systems beats VeriSign on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.