VeriSign (VRSN) Competitors

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) and VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) are both large-cap internet software & services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, risk and earnings.

Is EQIX or VRSN a better dividend stock?

Equinix pays an annual dividend of $18.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. VeriSign pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Equinix pays out 183.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. VeriSign pays out 36.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Equinix has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Equinix is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in EQIX or VRSN?

94.9% of Equinix shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of VeriSign shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Equinix shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of VeriSign shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is EQIX or VRSN more profitable?

VeriSign has a net margin of 50.05% compared to Equinix's net margin of 11.11%. Equinix's return on equity of 7.22% beat VeriSign's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Equinix	11.11%	7.22%	2.73%
VeriSign	50.05%	-40.87%	55.90%

Which has more risk and volatility, EQIX or VRSN?

Equinix has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VeriSign has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer EQIX or VRSN?

In the previous week, VeriSign had 2 more articles in the media than Equinix. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for VeriSign and 21 mentions for Equinix. VeriSign's average media sentiment score of 1.44 beat Equinix's score of 1.39 indicating that VeriSign is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Equinix	18 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
VeriSign	21 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate EQIX or VRSN?

Equinix currently has a consensus target price of $962.52, suggesting a potential upside of 20.61%. VeriSign has a consensus target price of $277.50, suggesting a potential downside of 1.85%. Given Equinix's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Equinix is more favorable than VeriSign.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Equinix	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	19 Buy rating(s)	5 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
VeriSign	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.33

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, EQIX or VRSN?

Equinix has higher revenue and earnings than VeriSign. VeriSign is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equinix, 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
Equinix	$8.75B	8.93	$815M	$10.21	78.17
VeriSign	$1.60B	16.53	$785.70M	$8.38	33.74

Summary

Equinix beats VeriSign on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.