BlackLine (BL) Competitors

BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) and Workiva (NYSE:WK) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and earnings.

Do analysts prefer BL or WK?

BlackLine presently has a consensus price target of $60.79, suggesting a potential upside of 14.84%. Workiva has a consensus price target of $99.22, suggesting a potential upside of 17.48%. Given Workiva's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Workiva is more favorable than BlackLine.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BlackLine	2 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Workiva	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in BL or WK?

95.1% of BlackLine shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.2% of Workiva shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.6% of BlackLine shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Workiva shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, BL or WK?

BlackLine has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Workiva has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor BL or WK?

In the previous week, Workiva had 17 more articles in the media than BlackLine. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for Workiva and 13 mentions for BlackLine. Workiva's average media sentiment score of 0.66 beat BlackLine's score of 0.49 indicating that Workiva is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
BlackLine	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Workiva	11 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is BL or WK more profitable?

BlackLine has a net margin of 23.60% compared to Workiva's net margin of -8.25%. BlackLine's return on equity of 18.70% beat Workiva's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BlackLine	23.60%	18.70%	4.05%
Workiva	-8.25%	N/A	-4.47%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, BL or WK?

BlackLine has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Workiva. Workiva is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BlackLine, 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
BlackLine	$653.34M	5.05	$165.81M	$1.38	38.36
Workiva	$738.68M	6.37	-$55.04M	-$1.17	-72.19

Summary

BlackLine beats Workiva on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.