Analyzing F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) & NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT)

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) and NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares F5 and NetScout Systems”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
F5	$3.09 billion	6.70	$692.38 million	$12.56	29.10
NetScout Systems	$883.16 million	3.25	$95.53 million	$1.64	24.10

F5 has higher revenue and earnings than NetScout Systems. NetScout Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than F5, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares F5 and NetScout Systems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
F5	21.95%	21.54%	12.16%
NetScout Systems	13.71%	9.25%	6.59%

Volatility & Risk

F5 has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NetScout Systems has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for F5 and NetScout Systems, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
F5	1	6	4	0	2.27
NetScout Systems	0	3	1	0	2.25

F5 currently has a consensus target price of $443.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.19%. NetScout Systems has a consensus target price of $46.50, indicating a potential upside of 17.63%. Given F5’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe F5 is more favorable than NetScout Systems.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

90.7% of F5 shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of NetScout Systems shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of F5 shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.7% of NetScout Systems shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

F5 beats NetScout Systems on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About F5

F5, Inc. provides multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. The company’s distributed cloud services enable its customers to deploy, secure, and operate applications in any architecture, from on-premises to the public cloud. It offers unified, security, networking, and application management solutions, such as web app and API protection; multi-cloud networking; application delivery and deployment; domain name system; content delivery network; and application deployment and orchestration. The company also provides application security and delivery products, including NGINX Plus; NGINX Management Suite; NGINX Ingress Controller; NGINX App Protect; BIG-IP Packaged Software; and BIG-IP Systems. In addition, it provides a range of professional services, including maintenance, consulting, training, and other technical support services. F5, Inc. sells its products to large enterprise businesses, public sector institutions, governments, and service providers through distributors, value-added resellers, managed service providers, systems integrators, and other indirect channel partners. It has partnerships with public cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. The company was formerly known as F5 Networks, Inc. and changed its name to F5, Inc. in November 2021. F5, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About NetScout Systems

NetScout Systems, Inc. provides service assurance and cybersecurity solutions for protect digital business services against disruptions in the United States, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers nGeniusONE management software that enables customers to predict, preempt, and resolve network and service delivery problems, as well as facilitate the optimization and capacity planning of their network infrastructures; and specialized platforms and analytic modules that enable its customers to analyze and troubleshoot traffic in radio access and Wi-Fi networks. It also provides nGeniusPULSE, an active testing tool that enables enterprises to identify infrastructure performance issues and determine application availability, reliability, and performance; and nGenius Business Analytics solution, which enables service providers to analyze their network traffic. In addition, the company offers ISNG, an advanced passive network probe; packet flow systems that deliver targeted network traffic access to various monitoring and security tools and systems; and a suite of test access points that enable non-disruptive access to network traffic. Further, it provides cybersecurity solutions to protect their networks against distributed denial of service attacks under the Arbor brand, such as Arbor Sightline, Arbor Threat Mitigation System, Arbor Insight, Arbor Edge Defense, and Arbor Cloud. Additionally, the company offers advanced threat detection solutions, such as Omnis Cyber Investigator. It serves enterprise customers in various industries, including financial services, technology, manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, education, transportation, and retail; mobile operators, wireline operators, cable operators, Internet service providers, and cloud providers; and governmental agencies through a direct sales force, and indirect reseller and distribution channels. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts.