Contrasting Dayforce (NYSE:DAY) and C3.ai (NYSE:AI)

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) and Dayforce (NYSE:DAY) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for C3.ai and Dayforce, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
C3.ai	4	6	4	0	2.00
Dayforce	1	4	10	0	2.60

C3.ai presently has a consensus price target of $29.46, indicating a potential upside of 22.54%. Dayforce has a consensus price target of $70.86, indicating a potential upside of 24.68%. Given Dayforce’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Dayforce is more favorable than C3.ai.

Volatility and Risk

C3.ai has a beta of 2.04, suggesting that its share price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dayforce has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

39.0% of C3.ai shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.5% of C3.ai shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Dayforce shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
C3.ai	-79.17%	-31.31%	-26.09%
Dayforce	1.03%	6.49%	1.75%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares C3.ai and Dayforce”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
C3.ai	$389.06 million	8.20	-$279.70 million	($2.24)	-10.73
Dayforce	$1.81 billion	5.02	$18.10 million	$0.16	355.18

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

Summary

Dayforce beats C3.ai on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About C3.ai

C3.ai, Inc. operates as an enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) software company in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company provides C3 AI platform, an application development and runtime environment that enables customers to design, develop, and deploy enterprise AI applications; C3 AI Ex Machina for analysis-ready data; C3 AI CRM, an industry specific customer relationship management solution; and C3 Generative AI Product Suite that enables to locate, retrieve, and present information. It also offers C3 AI applications, including C3 AI Inventory Optimization, a solution to optimize raw material, in-process, and finished goods inventory levels; C3 AI Supply Network Risk, which identifies emerging inbound and outbound risks across the network; C3 AI Sustainability Suite, which helps to decrease greenhouse gas emission; C3 AI Production Schedule Optimization, a solution for scheduling production; C3 AI Financial Services Suite, which helps to minimize compliance risks; and C3 AI Energy Management solution. In addition, it offers integrated turnkey enterprise AI applications for oil and gas, chemicals, utilities, manufacturing, financial services, defense, intelligence, aerospace, healthcare, and telecommunications market. It has strategic partnerships with Baker Hughes in the areas of oil and gas market; Booz Allen to provide solutions to government, defense, and intelligence sectors; Raytheon; and AWS, Google, and Microsoft. The company was formerly known as C3 IoT, Inc. and changed its name to C3.ai, Inc. in June 2019. C3.ai, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

About Dayforce

Dayforce Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a human capital management (HCM) software company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers Dayforce, a cloud HCM platform that provides human resources, payroll and tax, workforce management, wallet, benefits, and talent intelligence functionalities; and Powerpay, a cloud HR and payroll solution for the small business market. The company also provides payroll and payroll-related services; and implementation and professional services. It sells its solutions through direct sales force and third-party channels. The company was formerly known as Ceridian HCM Holding Inc. and changed its name to Dayforce Inc. in February 2024. Dayforce Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.