Comparing F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) & Ceragon Networks (NASDAQ:CRNT)

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) and Ceragon Networks (NASDAQ:CRNT) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares F5 and Ceragon Networks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
F5	21.95%	21.54%	12.16%
Ceragon Networks	-0.95%	2.74%	1.49%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

90.7% of F5 shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.3% of Ceragon Networks shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of F5 shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.0% of Ceragon Networks shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

F5 has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ceragon Networks has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares F5 and Ceragon Networks”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
F5	$3.09 billion	7.19	$692.38 million	$12.56	31.20
Ceragon Networks	$338.73 million	0.56	-$2.09 million	($0.03)	-69.50

F5 has higher revenue and earnings than Ceragon Networks. Ceragon Networks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than F5, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for F5 and Ceragon Networks, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
F5	1	5	5	0	2.36
Ceragon Networks	1	1	4	0	2.50

F5 presently has a consensus target price of $416.62, indicating a potential upside of 6.33%. Ceragon Networks has a consensus target price of $3.75, indicating a potential upside of 79.86%. Given Ceragon Networks’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ceragon Networks is more favorable than F5.

Summary

F5 beats Ceragon Networks on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About F5

F5, Inc. provides multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. The company’s distributed cloud services enable its customers to deploy, secure, and operate applications in any architecture, from on-premises to the public cloud. It offers unified, security, networking, and application management solutions, such as web app and API protection; multi-cloud networking; application delivery and deployment; domain name system; content delivery network; and application deployment and orchestration. The company also provides application security and delivery products, including NGINX Plus; NGINX Management Suite; NGINX Ingress Controller; NGINX App Protect; BIG-IP Packaged Software; and BIG-IP Systems. In addition, it provides a range of professional services, including maintenance, consulting, training, and other technical support services. F5, Inc. sells its products to large enterprise businesses, public sector institutions, governments, and service providers through distributors, value-added resellers, managed service providers, systems integrators, and other indirect channel partners. It has partnerships with public cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. The company was formerly known as F5 Networks, Inc. and changed its name to F5, Inc. in November 2021. F5, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About Ceragon Networks

Ceragon Networks Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides wireless transport solutions for cellular operators and other wireless service providers in North America, Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, India, and Latin America. The company's solutions use microwave and millimeter wave radio technology to transfer telecommunication traffic between base stations, small/distributed cells, and the service provider's network. It also provides IP-20 all-outdoor solutions, such as IP-20C, IP-20C-HP, IP-20S, IP-20E, and IP-20V; IP-20 split-mount, all-indoor solutions comprising IP-20N/IP-20A, IP-20F, and IP-20G; and IP-50 disaggregated solutions, including IP-50E, IP-50EX, IP-50C, IP-50CX, and IP-50FX for various short-haul, long-haul, fronthaul, small cells, routing, and enterprise access applications. In addition, the company offers network and radio planning, site surveys, solutions development, installation, network rollout, wireless transport network auditing and optimization, maintenance, training, and other services. It serves internet service providers, municipalities, government, utilities, and maritime communications broadcasters and defense, as well as oil and gas companies, public safety organizations, business and public institutions, broadcasters, energy utilities, and private communications networks. The company sells its products through direct sales, original equipment manufacturers, resellers, distributors, and system integrators. The company was formerly known as Giganet Ltd. and changed its name to Ceragon Networks Ltd. in September 2000. Ceragon Networks Ltd. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Rosh Ha'Ayin, Israel.