Contrasting Versant (VSNT) and Its Peers

Versant (NASDAQ:VSNT) is one of 259 public companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Versant to related companies based on the strength of its valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

38.8% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Versant shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.5% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Versant and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Versant	N/A	N/A	N/A
Versant Competitors	-20.08%	-48.65%	-5.12%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Versant and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Versant	0	7	1	0	2.12
Versant Competitors	2232	6852	10808	474	2.47

Versant currently has a consensus price target of $43.20, suggesting a potential upside of 5.31%. As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 20.86%. Given Versant’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Versant has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Dividends

Versant pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Versant pays out 43.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Media” companies pay a dividend yield of 5.3% and pay out 99.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Versant and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Versant	$6.69 billion	$930.00 million	11.79
Versant Competitors	$2.97 billion	-$7.90 million	17.59

Versant has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Versant is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Versant peers beat Versant on 8 of the 14 factors compared.

Versant Company Profile

Versant Corporation is a provider of data management software. The Company designs, develops, markets and supports database management system products that companies use to solve data management and data integration issues. It also provides related product support, training and consulting services to assist users of the Company’s products in developing and deploying software applications based on its products. The Company’s Versant Object Database product is used primarily by enterprises, which have data management requirements, such as technology providers, telecommunications carriers, Government defense agencies, defense contractors, healthcare companies and companies in the financial services and transportation industries. In addition to its product offerings, to assist users in their development and deployment of applications based on the Versant Object Database, FastObjects and db4o, it offers related professional services.