Head to Head Analysis: Workiva (NYSE:WK) and Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS)

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) and Workiva (NYSE:WK) are both mid-cap technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Qualys has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Workiva has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Qualys and Workiva’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Qualys	29.38%	37.52%	19.41%
Workiva	4.87%	-140.17%	3.74%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Qualys and Workiva”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Qualys	$669.12 million	9.85	$198.32 million	$5.78	32.95
Workiva	$884.57 million	5.02	-$26.17 million	$0.82	96.44

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.3% of Qualys shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.2% of Workiva shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Qualys shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.8% of Workiva shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Qualys and Workiva, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Qualys	1	11	4	2	2.39
Workiva	1	1	9	0	2.73

Qualys currently has a consensus target price of $183.62, indicating a potential downside of 3.59%. Workiva has a consensus target price of $87.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.01%. Given Workiva’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Workiva is more favorable than Qualys.

Summary

Qualys beats Workiva on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security. The company's integrated suite of IT, security, and compliance solutions delivered on its Qualys' Enterprise TruRisk Platform enables customers to identify and manage IT assets; collect and analyze IT security data; discover and prioritize vulnerabilities; quantify cyber risk exposure; recommend and implement remediation actions; and verify the implementation of such actions. It also provides asset tagging and management, reporting and dashboards, questionnaires and collaboration, remediation and workflow, big data correlation and analytics engine, and alerts and notifications that enable clients to detect vulnerabilities, and measure and remediate cyber risk. The company offers its solutions to enterprises, government entities, and small and medium-sized businesses in various industries, including education, financial services, government, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, media, retail, technology, and utilities through its sales teams, as well as through its network of channel partners, such as security consulting organizations, managed service providers, resellers, cloud providers, and consulting firms. Qualys, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.

About Workiva

Workiva Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based reporting solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers Workiva platform, a multi-tenant cloud software that provides data linking capabilities; audit trail services; administrators access management; and allows customers to connect data from multiple enterprise resource planning, human capital management, and customer relationship management systems, as well as other third-party cloud and on-premise applications. It serves public and private companies, government agencies, and higher-education institutions. Workiva Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Ames, Iowa.