Head-To-Head Analysis: Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) & Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN)

Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN) and Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

26.0% of Palladyne AI shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of Qualys shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.0% of Palladyne AI shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Qualys shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Palladyne AI and Qualys”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Palladyne AI	$7.77 million	47.55	-$115.59 million	($2.16)	-5.68
Qualys	$592.95 million	8.65	$151.60 million	$4.54	30.89

Qualys has higher revenue and earnings than Palladyne AI. Palladyne AI is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Qualys, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

Palladyne AI has a beta of 4.24, suggesting that its stock price is 324% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Qualys has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Palladyne AI and Qualys’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Palladyne AI	-722.22%	-56.81%	-37.45%
Qualys	28.72%	40.24%	19.19%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Palladyne AI and Qualys, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Palladyne AI	0	0	0	0	0.00
Qualys	3	13	2	0	1.94

Qualys has a consensus target price of $152.80, suggesting a potential upside of 8.97%. Given Qualys’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Qualys is more favorable than Palladyne AI.

Summary

Qualys beats Palladyne AI on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Palladyne AI

Palladyne AI Corp., a software company, focuses on delivering software that enhances the utility and functionality of third-party stationary and mobile robotic systems in the United States. Its Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) software platform enables robots to observe, learn, reason, and act in structured and unstructured environments. The company's software platform enables robotic systems to perceive their environment and quickly adapt to changing circumstances by generalizing from their experience using dynamic real-time operations without extensive programming and with minimal robot training. It serves customers from various industries, such as industrial manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, defense, infrastructure maintenance and repair, energy, aerospace and aviation, and others. The company was formerly known as Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation and changed its name to Palladyne AI Corp. in March 2024. Palladyne AI Corp. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security. The company's integrated suite of IT, security, and compliance solutions delivered on its Qualys' Enterprise TruRisk Platform enables customers to identify and manage IT assets; collect and analyze IT security data; discover and prioritize vulnerabilities; quantify cyber risk exposure; recommend and implement remediation actions; and verify the implementation of such actions. It also provides asset tagging and management, reporting and dashboards, questionnaires and collaboration, remediation and workflow, big data correlation and analytics engine, and alerts and notifications that enable clients to detect vulnerabilities, and measure and remediate cyber risk. The company offers its solutions to enterprises, government entities, and small and medium-sized businesses in various industries, including education, financial services, government, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, media, retail, technology, and utilities through its sales teams, as well as through its network of channel partners, such as security consulting organizations, managed service providers, resellers, cloud providers, and consulting firms. Qualys, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.