Slack Technologies (NYSE:WORK) and Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.
Volatility & Risk
Slack Technologies has a beta of -0.02, suggesting that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Appian has a beta of 2, suggesting that its share price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Slack Technologies and Appian, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Slack Technologies | 1 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 2.10 |
Appian | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1.71 |
Slack Technologies presently has a consensus price target of $40.7778, suggesting a potential downside of 3.44%. Appian has a consensus price target of $130.2857, suggesting a potential upside of 5.98%. Given Appian's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Appian is more favorable than Slack Technologies.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Slack Technologies and Appian's gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Slack Technologies | $630.42 million | 38.59 | $-571,060,000.00 | ($1.42) | -29.73 |
Appian | $260.35 million | 33.44 | $-50,710,000.00 | ($0.77) | -159.94 |
Appian has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Slack Technologies. Appian is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Slack Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Slack Technologies and Appian's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Slack Technologies | -42.73% | -39.14% | -17.81% |
Appian | -13.00% | -15.16% | -8.94% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
65.9% of Slack Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.3% of Appian shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.8% of Slack Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 46.8% of Appian shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Appian beats Slack Technologies on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.