ACI Worldwide (ACIW) Competitors

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) and ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) are both application software companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Is FDS or ACIW more profitable?

FactSet Research Systems has a net margin of 23.30% compared to ACI Worldwide's net margin of 16.12%. FactSet Research Systems' return on equity of 31.59% beat ACI Worldwide's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FactSet Research Systems	23.30%	31.59%	15.37%
ACI Worldwide	16.12%	20.94%	9.03%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, FDS or ACIW?

FactSet Research Systems has higher revenue and earnings than ACI Worldwide. ACI Worldwide is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FactSet Research 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
FactSet Research Systems	$2.20B	7.66	$537.13M	$13.84	32.24
ACI Worldwide	$1.59B	2.89	$203.12M	$2.54	17.28

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of FDS or ACIW?

91.2% of FactSet Research Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.7% of ACI Worldwide shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of FactSet Research Systems shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of ACI Worldwide shares are owned 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.

Does the media prefer FDS or ACIW?

In the previous week, FactSet Research Systems had 11 more articles in the media than ACI Worldwide. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for FactSet Research Systems and 5 mentions for ACI Worldwide. ACI Worldwide's average media sentiment score of 1.65 beat FactSet Research Systems' score of 1.10 indicating that ACI Worldwide is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
FactSet Research Systems	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ACI Worldwide	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Do analysts prefer FDS or ACIW?

FactSet Research Systems presently has a consensus target price of $444.25, suggesting a potential downside of 0.43%. ACI Worldwide has a consensus target price of $60.00, suggesting a potential upside of 36.67%. Given ACI Worldwide's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe ACI Worldwide is more favorable than FactSet Research Systems.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FactSet Research Systems	3 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.67
ACI Worldwide	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Which has more volatility and risk, FDS or ACIW?

FactSet Research Systems has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ACI Worldwide has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

FactSet Research Systems beats ACI Worldwide on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.