Comparing Dayforce (NYSE:DAY) & Alight (NYSE:ALIT)

Alight (NYSE:ALIT) and Dayforce (NYSE:DAY) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Alight has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dayforce has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alight	$2.33 billion	0.45	-$157.00 million	($4.09)	-0.48
Dayforce	$1.76 billion	6.29	$18.10 million	($0.94)	-73.55

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Alight and Dayforce, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alight	1	0	4	0	2.60
Dayforce	2	14	1	1	2.06

Alight currently has a consensus target price of $5.25, indicating a potential upside of 166.50%. Dayforce has a consensus target price of $70.36, indicating a potential upside of 1.76%. Given Alight’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Alight is more favorable than Dayforce.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.7% of Alight shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Alight shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Dayforce shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alight	-94.23%	7.89%	3.80%
Dayforce	-7.91%	6.54%	1.92%

Summary

Alight beats Dayforce on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alight

Alight, Inc. provides cloud-based integrated digital human capital and business solutions worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Employer Solutions and Professional Services. The Employer Solutions segment offers employee wellbeing, integrated benefits administration, healthcare navigation, financial wellbeing, leave of absence management, retiree healthcare and payroll; and operates AI-led capabilities software. The Professional Services segment offers consulting offerings, such as cloud advisory, deployment, and optimization services for cloud platforms. The company provides Alight Worklife, an intuitive, cloud-based employee engagement platform. Its solutions enable employees to enrich their health, wealth, and wellbeing that helps organizations achieve a high-performance culture. Alight, Inc. was founded in 2020 and is based in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

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.