Head-To-Head Survey: Versant (VSNT) vs. Its Competitors

Versant (NASDAQ:VSNT) is one of 259 publicly-traded 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 profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Versant and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Versant	$6.60 billion	$930.00 million	10.99
Versant Competitors	$3.01 billion	-$7.90 million	17.32

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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Versant and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Versant	0	7	1	0	2.12
Versant Competitors	2244	6864	10821	475	2.47

Versant currently has a consensus target price of $43.20, indicating a potential upside of 12.94%. As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 24.10%. Given Versant’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly 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 3.9%. Versant pays out 43.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Media” companies pay a dividend yield of 5.1% and pay out 109.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

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	-20.09%	-48.62%	-5.13%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

38.4% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Versant shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 18.0% of shares of all “Media” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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.