Contrasting Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) and Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE)

Braze (NASDAQ:BRZE) and Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

90.5% of Braze shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.2% of Autodesk shares are held by institutional investors. 18.2% of Braze shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Autodesk shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Braze and Autodesk’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Braze	-17.78%	-18.75%	-10.60%
Autodesk	15.60%	53.51%	13.37%

Risk and Volatility

Braze has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Autodesk has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Braze and Autodesk, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Braze	1	1	22	0	2.88
Autodesk	0	5	22	2	2.90

Braze presently has a consensus price target of $36.67, indicating a potential upside of 54.84%. Autodesk has a consensus price target of $342.81, indicating a potential upside of 43.99%. Given Braze’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Braze is more favorable than Autodesk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Braze and Autodesk”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Braze	$738.18 million	3.60	-$131.29 million	($1.22)	-19.41
Autodesk	$7.21 billion	6.97	$1.12 billion	$5.24	45.44

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

Summary

Autodesk beats Braze on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Braze

Braze, Inc. operates a customer engagement platform that provides interactions between consumers and brands worldwide. The company offers Braze software development kits that automatically manage data ingestion and deliver mobile and web notifications, in-application/in-browser interstitial messages, and content cards; REST API that can be used to import or export data or to trigger workflows between Braze and brands' existing technology stacks; Partner Data Integrations, which allow brands to sync user cohorts from partners; Data Transformation, in which brands can programmatically sync and transform user data; and Braze Cloud Data Ingestion that enables brands to harness their customer data. It also offers classification products, including segmentation that can define reusable segments of consumers based upon attributes, events, or predictive propensity scores; segment insights, which allows customers to analyze how segments are performing relative to each other across a set of pre-selected key performance indicators; and predictive suite that allows customers to identify groups of consumers that are of critical business value. In addition, the company provides Canvas, an orchestration tool that allows customers to create journeys, mapping out multi-steps, and cross-channel messaging experiences; campaigns, which allows customers to send one set of single-channel or multi-channel messages to be delivered to customers in a particular user segment; event and API triggering; marketing pressure management; and reporting and analytics. Further, it offers personalization products, such as liquid templating platform, connected content platform, content blocks, intelligent timing and channel, personalized variant, and AI item recommendations, and catalogs; and action products. The company was formerly known as Appboy, Inc. and changed its name to Braze, Inc. in November 2017. Braze, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. provides 3D design, engineering, and entertainment technology solutions worldwide. The company offers AutoCAD Civil 3D, a surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering, including land development, transportation, and environmental projects; BuildingConnected, a SaaS preconstruction solution; AutoCAD, a software for professional design, drafting, detailing, and visualization; AutoCAD LT, a drafting and detailing software; computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software for computer numeric control machining, inspection, and modelling for manufacturing; Fusion 360, a 3D CAD, CAM, and computer-aided engineering tool; and Industry Collections tools for professionals in architecture, engineering and construction, product design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment collection industries. It also provides Inventor tools for 3D mechanical design, simulation, analysis, tooling, visualization, and documentation; Vault, a data management software to manage data in one central location, accelerate design processes, and streamline internal/external collaboration; Maya and 3ds Max software products that offer 3D modeling, animation, effects, rendering, and compositing solutions; and ShotGrid, a cloud-based software for review and production tracking in the media and entertainment industry. It sells its products and services to customers directly, as well as through a network of resellers and distributors. Autodesk, Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.