Critical Survey: Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) versus Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE)

Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE) and Workday (NASDAQ:WDAY) are both technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aware	$17.29 million	1.18	-$5.87 million	($0.39)	-2.38
Workday	$9.55 billion	4.96	$693.00 million	$4.93	39.85

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Aware and Workday, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aware	1	0	0	0	1.00
Workday	2	19	22	0	2.47

Workday has a consensus target price of $202.10, suggesting a potential upside of 2.87%. Given Workday’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Workday is more favorable than Aware.

Volatility & Risk

Aware has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Workday has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Aware and Workday’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aware	-52.60%	-36.87%	-25.29%
Workday	12.32%	20.95%	9.22%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

24.4% of Aware shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.8% of Workday shares are owned by institutional investors. 34.3% of Aware shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.6% of Workday shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Workday beats Aware on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aware

Aware, Inc. develops biometric software used to verify and manage identity. Its technology supports fingerprint, face and iris recognition, along with biometric enrollment and identity authentication. The company offers software development tools and solutions for applications such as biometric identity systems, mobile identification and digital identity verification. Its products are used by government organizations and commercial customers, including in security and identity-management settings.

About Workday

Workday, Inc. develops cloud-based software for managing human resources, finance and business operations. Its products include Workday Human Capital Management, Workday Financial Management and Workday Adaptive Planning, which help organizations manage areas such as workforce administration, accounting, budgeting and forecasting. Founded in 2005 by Dave Duffield and Aneel Bhusri, Workday serves businesses, governments and educational institutions across a range of industries. Its operations and customer base extend across North America and international markets.