Head to Head Analysis: Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) & Samsara (NYSE:IOT)

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) and Samsara (NYSE:IOT) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.3% of Vertex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.0% of Samsara shares are owned by institutional investors. 43.3% of Vertex shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 46.5% of Samsara shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Vertex and Samsara’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vertex	-0.84%	26.04%	5.40%
Samsara	-0.56%	-0.72%	-0.40%

Volatility and Risk

Vertex has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Samsara has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its stock price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vertex and Samsara”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vertex	$748.44 million	2.72	$7.21 million	($0.05)	-254.80
Samsara	$1.62 billion	9.88	-$9.12 million	($0.02)	-1,377.60

Vertex has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Samsara. Samsara is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vertex, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Vertex and Samsara, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vertex	1	6	7	0	2.43
Samsara	1	4	12	1	2.72

Vertex currently has a consensus price target of $20.93, suggesting a potential upside of 64.27%. Samsara has a consensus price target of $46.18, suggesting a potential upside of 67.60%. Given Samsara’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Samsara is more favorable than Vertex.

Summary

Samsara beats Vertex on 11 of the 15 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 Samsara

Samsara Inc. provides solutions that connects physical operations data to its connected operations cloud in the United States and internationally. The company's Connected Operations Cloud includes Data Platform, which ingests, aggregates, and enriches data from its IoT devices and has embedded capabilities for AI, workflows and analytics, alerts, API connections, and data security and privacy. Its applications include video-based safety that enables customers to build a safety program and protect their teams with AI-enabled video; vehicle telematics which provides visibility into real-time vehicle location and diagnostics with GPS tracking, routing and dispatch, fuel efficiency management, electric vehicle usage and charge planning, preventative maintenance, and insights to manage fuel and energy costs; and mobile apps and workflows that improves productivity for frontline workers and enables regulatory compliance for workers to see upcoming jobs, capture electronic documents, perform maintenance inspections, maintain compliance logs, and message with back-office administration. The company also provides equipment monitoring which offers visibility and management of unpowered and powered assets, ranging from generators and compressors to heavy construction equipment and trailers to improve operating efficiency, prevent unplanned downtime, and avoid critical safety and compliance issues; and site visibility that provides remote visibility into sites to improve onsite security, safety, and incident response times. It serves transportation, wholesale and retail trade, construction, field services, logistics, utilities and energy, healthcare and education, manufacturing, food and beverage, and other industries, as well as government. Samsara Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.