Leidos (LDOS) Competitors

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) and Leidos (NYSE:LDOS) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, dividends, earnings, valuation and community ranking.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CTSH or LDOS?

Cognizant Technology Solutions received 545 more outperform votes than Leidos when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 73.29% of users gave Cognizant Technology Solutions an outperform vote while only 64.71% of users gave Leidos an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cognizant Technology Solutions	Outperform Votes 1229 73.29%	Underperform Votes 448 26.71%
Leidos	Outperform Votes 684 64.71%	Underperform Votes 373 35.29%

Do analysts rate CTSH or LDOS?

Cognizant Technology Solutions currently has a consensus price target of $85.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.66%. Leidos has a consensus price target of $176.46, indicating a potential upside of 18.34%. Given Leidos' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Leidos is more favorable than Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cognizant Technology Solutions	0 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.22
Leidos	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Do institutionals & insiders believe in CTSH or LDOS?

92.4% of Cognizant Technology Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.1% of Leidos shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Cognizant Technology Solutions shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Leidos shares are held by 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 better earnings & valuation, CTSH or LDOS?

Cognizant Technology Solutions has higher revenue and earnings than Leidos. Leidos is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cognizant Technology Solutions, 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
Cognizant Technology Solutions	$20.09B	1.94	$2.24B	$4.75	16.62
Leidos	$16.93B	1.13	$1.25B	$9.94	15.00

Is CTSH or LDOS more profitable?

Cognizant Technology Solutions has a net margin of 11.35% compared to Leidos' net margin of 7.53%. Leidos' return on equity of 30.93% beat Cognizant Technology Solutions' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cognizant Technology Solutions	11.35%	16.78%	12.24%
Leidos	7.53%	30.93%	10.64%

Is CTSH or LDOS a better dividend stock?

Cognizant Technology Solutions pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Leidos pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Cognizant Technology Solutions pays out 26.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Leidos pays out 16.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Cognizant Technology Solutions has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years and Leidos has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.

Does the media favor CTSH or LDOS?

In the previous week, Leidos had 8 more articles in the media than Cognizant Technology Solutions. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for Leidos and 11 mentions for Cognizant Technology Solutions. Leidos' average media sentiment score of 1.32 beat Cognizant Technology Solutions' score of 1.27 indicating that Leidos is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cognizant Technology Solutions	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Leidos	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, CTSH or LDOS?

Cognizant Technology Solutions has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Leidos has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cognizant Technology Solutions beats Leidos on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.