AvePoint (NASDAQ:AVPT) versus Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Head-To-Head Review

AvePoint (NASDAQ:AVPT) and Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) are both technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

44.5% of AvePoint shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.7% of Fortinet shares are held by institutional investors. 22.7% of AvePoint shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.6% of Fortinet shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

AvePoint has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fortinet has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares AvePoint and Fortinet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AvePoint	15.67%	17.11%	10.16%
Fortinet	28.96%	152.72%	21.36%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares AvePoint and Fortinet”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AvePoint	$466.15 million	7.63	$34.80 million	$0.34	49.44
Fortinet	$7.88 billion	11.42	$1.85 billion	$3.08	39.76

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for AvePoint and Fortinet, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AvePoint	0	5	10	0	2.67
Fortinet	6	24	11	0	2.12

AvePoint currently has a consensus price target of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.08%. Fortinet has a consensus price target of $150.44, indicating a potential upside of 22.84%. Given Fortinet’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Fortinet is more favorable than AvePoint.

Summary

Fortinet beats AvePoint on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AvePoint

AvePoint, Inc. provides cloud-native data management software platform in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. It also offers software-as-a-service solutions and productivity applications. The company offers modularity and cloud services architecture to address critical challenges and the management of data to organizations that leverage third-party cloud vendors, including Microsoft, Salesforce, Google, AWS, Box, DropBox, and others; license and support; and maintenance services. AvePoint, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc. provides cybersecurity and convergence of networking and security solutions worldwide. It offers secure networking solutions focus on the convergence of networking and security; network firewall solutions that consist of FortiGate data centers, hyperscale, and distributed firewalls, as well as encrypted applications; wireless LAN solutions; and secure connectivity solutions, including FortiSwitch secure ethernet switches, FortiAP wireless local area network access points, FortiExtender 5G connectivity gateways, and other products. The company also provides the Fortinet Unified SASE solutions that include firewall, SD-WAN, Secure web gateway, cloud access services broker, data loss prevention, zero trust network access, and cloud security, including web application firewalls, virtualized firewalls, and cloud-native firewalls. In addition, it offers security operations solutions comprising FortiAI generative AI assistant, FortiSIEM security information and event management, FortiSOAR security orchestration, automation and response, FortiEDR endpoint detection and response, FortiXDR extended detection and response, FortiMDR managed detection and response service, FortiNDR network detection and response, FortiRecon digital risk protection, FortiDeceptor deception technology, FortiGuard SoCaaS, FortiSandbox sandboxing, FortiGuard incident response, and other products. Further, the company offers FortiGuard security services consisting of FortiGuard application security, content security, device security, NOC/SOC security, and web security services; FortiCare technical support services; and training services to customers and channel partners, as well as operates a FortiGuard Lab, a cybersecurity threat intelligence and research organization. It serves enterprise, communication and security service providers, government organizations, and small and medium-sized businesses. The company was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.