Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) vs. C3.ai (NYSE:AI) Financial Contrast

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) and Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) are both technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Risk & Volatility

C3.ai has a beta of 2.17, suggesting that its share price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Appian has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

39.0% of C3.ai shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.7% of Appian shares are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of C3.ai shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 42.8% of Appian shares are held by company 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares C3.ai and Appian”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
C3.ai	$250.27 million	7.73	-$470.37 million	($3.08)	-3.91
Appian	$842.93 million	4.53	$1.23 million	($0.08)	-665.94

Appian has higher revenue and earnings than C3.ai. Appian is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than C3.ai, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for C3.ai and Appian, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
C3.ai	7	5	2	0	1.64
Appian	2	3	2	1	2.25

C3.ai presently has a consensus price target of $9.62, indicating a potential downside of 19.98%. Appian has a consensus price target of $44.33, indicating a potential downside of 16.78%. Given Appian’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Appian is more favorable than C3.ai.

Profitability

This table compares C3.ai and Appian’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
C3.ai	-192.10%	-61.25%	-49.03%
Appian	-0.72%	-43.13%	5.33%

Summary

Appian beats C3.ai on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About C3.ai

C3.ai, Inc. is an enterprise software company that develops artificial intelligence applications and tools for businesses and government organizations. Its offerings are designed to help customers use data to address operational and analytical needs across industries including energy, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare and defense. The company’s products include the C3 AI Platform, which provides tools for developing, deploying and operating AI applications using enterprise data, as well as ready-made applications for use cases such as predictive maintenance, supply chain management and fraud detection.

About Appian

Appian Corporation develops a low-code platform that helps organizations build and manage business applications and automate complex processes. Its offerings combine application development tools with capabilities for workflow automation, case management, robotic process automation, and process mining. Founded in 1999 by Matt Calkins, Appian serves businesses and government organizations in a range of industries, including financial services, insurance, healthcare, life sciences, and the public sector.