Comparing ZenaTech (NASDAQ:ZENA) and Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN)

Palladyne AI (NASDAQ:PDYN) and ZenaTech (NASDAQ:ZENA) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Palladyne AI and ZenaTech”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Palladyne AI	$7.07 million	38.38	$10.04 million	($0.61)	-9.57
ZenaTech	$9.24 million	3.46	-$32.36 million	($1.42)	-1.00

Palladyne AI has higher earnings, but lower revenue than ZenaTech. Palladyne AI is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ZenaTech, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

26.0% of Palladyne AI shares are held by institutional investors. 13.4% of Palladyne AI shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Palladyne AI and ZenaTech, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Palladyne AI	1	2	3	0	2.33
ZenaTech	1	1	2	0	2.25

Palladyne AI currently has a consensus target price of $11.00, suggesting a potential upside of 88.36%. ZenaTech has a consensus target price of $4.50, suggesting a potential upside of 216.90%. Given ZenaTech’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe ZenaTech is more favorable than Palladyne AI.

Profitability

This table compares Palladyne AI and ZenaTech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Palladyne AI	-358.04%	-49.17%	-36.25%
ZenaTech	-332.51%	N/A	-78.90%

Risk & Volatility

Palladyne AI has a beta of 3.63, suggesting that its stock price is 263% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ZenaTech has a beta of 7.07, suggesting that its stock price is 607% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Palladyne AI beats ZenaTech on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Palladyne AI

Palladyne AI Corp., a software company, focuses on delivering software that enhances the utility and functionality of third-party stationary and mobile robotic systems in the United States. Its Artificial Intelligence (AI)/ Machine Learning (ML) software platform enables robots to observe, learn, reason, and act in structured and unstructured environments. The company's software platform enables robotic systems to perceive their environment and quickly adapt to changing circumstances by generalizing from their experience using dynamic real-time operations without extensive programming and with minimal robot training. It serves customers from various industries, such as industrial manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, defense, infrastructure maintenance and repair, energy, aerospace and aviation, and others. The company was formerly known as Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corporation and changed its name to Palladyne AI Corp. in March 2024. Palladyne AI Corp. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About ZenaTech

ZenaTech, Inc., an enterprise software technology company, develops cloud-based software applications in Canada. It provides cryptocurrency wallets and cloud-based enterprise software solutions for the agriculture industry; cloud-based enterprise software solutions for the medical records industry; safety and compliance management software and mobile solutions; field management software and mobile solutions; integrated cloud-based enterprise software and hardware drone technology solutions for various industries; and browser-based enterprise software applications for public safety. ZenaTech, Inc. was formerly known as ZenaDrone, Inc. and changed its name to ZenaTech, Inc. on October 5, 2020. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Toronto, Canada.