Financial Review: BOX (NYSE:BOX) vs. StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE)

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) and BOX (NYSE:BOX) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
StoneCo	$2.53 billion	1.10	$425.73 million	$2.50	4.46
BOX	$1.18 billion	3.59	$115.38 million	$0.65	47.01

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for StoneCo and BOX, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
StoneCo	0	5	4	0	2.44
BOX	1	5	3	0	2.22

StoneCo presently has a consensus target price of $14.92, indicating a potential upside of 33.78%. BOX has a consensus target price of $35.33, indicating a potential upside of 15.62%. Given StoneCo’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe StoneCo is more favorable than BOX.

Volatility & Risk

StoneCo has a beta of 1.73, suggesting that its stock price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BOX has a beta of 0.74, suggesting that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares StoneCo and BOX’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
StoneCo	23.82%	21.05%	4.17%
BOX	10.35%	-24.19%	4.66%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

73.2% of StoneCo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of BOX shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.3% of StoneCo shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of BOX shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

StoneCo beats BOX on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About StoneCo

StoneCo Ltd. provides financial technology and software solutions to merchants and integrated partners to conduct electronic commerce across in-store, online, and mobile channels in Brazil. It distributes its solutions, principally through proprietary Stone Hubs, which offer hyper-local sales and services; and sells solutions to brick-and-mortar and digital merchants through sales team. The company served small-and-medium-sized businesses; and marketplaces, e-commerce platforms, and integrated software vendors. StoneCo Ltd. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in George Town, the Cayman Islands.

About BOX

Box, Inc. engages in the provision of an enterprise content platform that enables organizations to securely manage enterprise content while allowing easy, secure access and sharing of this content from anywhere, on any device. Its products include cloud content management, IT and admin controls, Box Governance, Box Zones, Box Relay, Box Shuttle, and Box KeySafe. The company was founded by Aaron Levie, Dylan Smith, Jeff Queisser, and Sam Ghods in March 2005 and is headquartered in Redwood City, CA.