Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX – Get Free Report) and C3.ai (NYSE:AI – Get Free Report) are both technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.
Risk and Volatility
Vertex has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, C3.ai has a beta of 2.1, meaning that its stock price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Vertex and C3.ai”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Vertex | $748.44 million | 2.98 | $7.21 million | $0.02 | 688.50 |
| C3.ai | $250.27 million | 6.49 | -$470.37 million | ($3.34) | -3.13 |
Vertex has higher revenue and earnings than C3.ai. C3.ai is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vertex, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Vertex and C3.ai, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Vertex | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2.40 |
| C3.ai | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1.50 |
Vertex presently has a consensus price target of $17.43, suggesting a potential upside of 26.57%. C3.ai has a consensus price target of $8.70, suggesting a potential downside of 16.75%. Given Vertex’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vertex is more favorable than C3.ai.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
70.3% of Vertex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of C3.ai shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.3% of Vertex shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.5% of C3.ai shares are owned 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.
Profitability
This table compares Vertex and C3.ai’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Vertex | 0.45% | 29.00% | 5.96% |
| C3.ai | -192.10% | -60.82% | -48.80% |
Summary
Vertex beats C3.ai on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Vertex
Vertex, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides enterprise tax technology solutions for retail trade, wholesale trade, and manufacturing industries in the United States and internationally. The company offers tax determination; compliance and reporting, including workflow management tools, role-based security, and event logging; tax data management; document management; analytics and insights; pre-built integration that includes mapping data fields, and business logic and configurations; industry-specific solutions; and technology specific solutions, such as chain flow accelerator and SAP-specific tools. It provides implementation services, such as configuration, data migration and implementation, and support and training; and managed services, including tax return preparation, filing and tax payment, and notice management. The company sells its software products through software licenses and software as a service subscription. Vertex, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
About C3.ai
C3.ai, Inc. operates as an enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) software company in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company provides C3 AI platform, an application development and runtime environment that enables customers to design, develop, and deploy enterprise AI applications; C3 AI Ex Machina for analysis-ready data; C3 AI CRM, an industry specific customer relationship management solution; and C3 Generative AI Product Suite that enables to locate, retrieve, and present information. It also offers C3 AI applications, including C3 AI Inventory Optimization, a solution to optimize raw material, in-process, and finished goods inventory levels; C3 AI Supply Network Risk, which identifies emerging inbound and outbound risks across the network; C3 AI Sustainability Suite, which helps to decrease greenhouse gas emission; C3 AI Production Schedule Optimization, a solution for scheduling production; C3 AI Financial Services Suite, which helps to minimize compliance risks; and C3 AI Energy Management solution. In addition, it offers integrated turnkey enterprise AI applications for oil and gas, chemicals, utilities, manufacturing, financial services, defense, intelligence, aerospace, healthcare, and telecommunications market. It has strategic partnerships with Baker Hughes in the areas of oil and gas market; Booz Allen to provide solutions to government, defense, and intelligence sectors; Raytheon; and AWS, Google, and Microsoft. The company was formerly known as C3 IoT, Inc. and changed its name to C3.ai, Inc. in June 2019. C3.ai, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.
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