Reviewing UiPath (NYSE:PATH) and Lightspeed Commerce (NYSE:LSPD)

UiPath (NYSE:PATH) and Lightspeed Commerce (NYSE:LSPD) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares UiPath and Lightspeed Commerce’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UiPath	21.03%	9.70%	6.42%
Lightspeed Commerce	-5.51%	1.30%	1.15%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares UiPath and Lightspeed Commerce”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UiPath	$1.61 billion	4.23	$282.33 million	$0.67	19.53
Lightspeed Commerce	$1.23 billion	1.06	-$144.41 million	($0.49)	-20.60

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

62.5% of UiPath shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.7% of Lightspeed Commerce shares are held by institutional investors. 22.4% of UiPath 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for UiPath and Lightspeed Commerce, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UiPath	2	15	4	0	2.10
Lightspeed Commerce	3	9	4	0	2.06

UiPath currently has a consensus price target of $15.69, indicating a potential upside of 19.89%. Lightspeed Commerce has a consensus price target of $11.27, indicating a potential upside of 11.63%. Given UiPath’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe UiPath is more favorable than Lightspeed Commerce.

Volatility and Risk

UiPath has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lightspeed Commerce has a beta of 1.85, suggesting that its share price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

UiPath beats Lightspeed Commerce on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UiPath

UiPath Inc. develops enterprise automation software that helps organizations automate repetitive, rules-based work and more complex business processes. Its platform combines robotic process automation with artificial intelligence and tools for managing automated workflows. Its products and services include software robots, workflow orchestration, process and task discovery, and tools for processing documents. UiPath serves businesses and public-sector organizations across a range of industries and geographies.

About Lightspeed Commerce

Lightspeed Commerce is a Montreal-based technology company that provides cloud-based commerce software to retail, restaurant and golf businesses. Founded in 2005 by Dax Dasilva, the company initially focused on point-of-sale tools for retailers and has since broadened its platform and customer base. Its products combine point-of-sale systems with tools for payments, inventory and order management, e-commerce, customer engagement and business analytics. Lightspeed also offers software designed for restaurant operations and golf course management.