Critical Review: Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) and hopTo (OTCMKTS:HPTO)

hopTo (OTCMKTS:HPTO) and Guidewire Software (NYSE:GWRE) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

hopTo has a beta of 3.88, suggesting that its share price is 288% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Guidewire Software has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for hopTo and Guidewire Software, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
hopTo	0	0	0	0	0.00
Guidewire Software	1	3	11	1	2.75

Guidewire Software has a consensus target price of $249.85, indicating a potential upside of 68.12%. Given Guidewire Software’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Guidewire Software is more favorable than hopTo.

Profitability

This table compares hopTo and Guidewire Software’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
hopTo	N/A	N/A	N/A
Guidewire Software	14.11%	13.44%	7.48%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares hopTo and Guidewire Software”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
hopTo	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Guidewire Software	$1.34 billion	9.38	$69.80 million	$2.20	67.55

Guidewire Software has higher revenue and earnings than hopTo.

Summary

Guidewire Software beats hopTo on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About hopTo

hopTo Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and sells application publishing software in the United States, Brazil, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company's application publishing software includes application virtualization and cloud computing software for a range of computer operating systems, including Windows, UNIX, and various Linux-based variants. It provides its application publishing software solutions under the GO-Global brand name. The company offers GO-Global, an application access solution that provides cross-platform remote access and Web-enabled access to existing software applications, as well as the deployment of secure and private cloud environments for use and/or resale by independent software vendors, corporate enterprises, governmental and educational institutions, and others. Its GO-Global software products comprise GO-Global for Windows that allows access to Windows-based applications from remote locations and Internet connections; GO-Global for UNIX, which allows access to UNIX and Linux-based applications from remote locations, and Internet and connections; and GO-Global Client that allows remote application access from various local, remote, and mobile platforms, including Windows, Linux, UNIX, Apple OS X and iOS, and Google Android. The company sells its products through resellers, such as original equipment manufacturers, system integrators, value-added resellers, and distributors. It serves small to medium-sized companies, departments within large corporations, governmental and educational institutions, and independent software vendors. The company was formerly known as GraphOn Corporation and changed its name to hopTo Inc. in September 2013. hopTo Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Concord, New Hampshire.

About Guidewire Software

Guidewire Software, Inc. provides a platform for property and casualty (P&C) insurers worldwide. The company offers Guidewire InsuranceSuite Cloud, such as PolicyCenter Cloud, BillingCenter Cloud, and ClaimCenter Cloud applications. It also provides Guidewire InsuranceNow, a cloud-based platform that offers policy, billing, and claims management functionality to insurers; and Guidewire InsuranceSuite for Self-Managed. In addition, the company offers Guidewire Rating Management to manage the pricing of insurance products; and Guidewire Reinsurance Management to use rules-based logic to execute reinsurance strategy through underwriting and claims processes. Further, it provides Guidewire Underwriting Management, a cloud-based integrated business application; Guidewire AppReader, a submission intake management solution; Guidewire ClaimCenter Package for the London market supports the claims workflow used by London Market insurers and brokers; Guidewire Digital Engagement Applications, which enable insurers to provide digital experiences to customers, agents, vendors, and field personnel through their device of choice; and Guidewire for Salesforce to provide customer information regarding policies and claims. Additionally, the company offers Guidewire Predict, a P&C-specific machine-learning platform; Guidewire HazardHub that allows insurers to understand, assess, price, and manage property risk; Guidewire Canvas, Guidewire Compare, and Guidewire Explore cloud-native applications; and Guidewire Cyence, a cyber-risk economic modeling product. The company was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.