Contrasting Skillsoft (NYSE:SKIL) and Kyndryl (NYSE:KD)

Skillsoft (NYSE:SKIL) and Kyndryl (NYSE:KD) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

Skillsoft has a beta of 2.23, indicating that its stock price is 123% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kyndryl has a beta of 1.66, indicating that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Skillsoft and Kyndryl”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Skillsoft	$512.67 million	0.12	-$139.82 million	($16.28)	-0.44
Kyndryl	$15.09 billion	0.18	$199.00 million	$0.85	14.26

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

Profitability

This table compares Skillsoft and Kyndryl’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Skillsoft	-27.27%	112.12%	2.30%
Kyndryl	1.31%	20.43%	2.32%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.0% of Skillsoft shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.5% of Kyndryl shares are held by institutional investors. 16.2% of Skillsoft shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Kyndryl shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Skillsoft and Kyndryl, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Skillsoft	1	1	0	0	1.50
Kyndryl	3	6	0	0	1.67

Kyndryl has a consensus target price of $22.14, suggesting a potential upside of 82.64%. Given Kyndryl’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Kyndryl is more favorable than Skillsoft.

Summary

Kyndryl beats Skillsoft on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Skillsoft

Skillsoft Corp. provides content and platform and instructor-led training services in the United States and internationally. The company's Content & Platform segment engages in the sale, marketing, and delivery of its content learning solutions in areas, such as leadership and business, technology and developer, and compliance comprising individualized coaching, as well as technical skill areas. This segment also offers Percipio, an AI-driven online learning platform that delivers a learning experience through SaaS solutions. Its Instructor-Led Training segment provides training solutions, including information technology and business skills for corporations and their employees by guiding its customers throughout their lifelong technology learning journey by offering relevant and up-to-date skills training through instructor-led and self-paced, vendor certified, and other proprietary offerings. The company markets and sells their offerings to businesses of many sizes, government agencies, educational institutions, and resellers. Skillsoft Corp. is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

About Kyndryl

Kyndryl Holdings, Inc. operates as a technology services company and IT infrastructure services provider worldwide. The company offers cloud services; core enterprise and zCloud services; application, data, and artificial intelligence services; digital workplace services; security and resiliency services; and network services and edge services. It serves financial, communications, retail and travel, and automotive industries. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in New York, New York.