Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) and Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.
Risk and Volatility
Qualys has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oracle has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Qualys and Oracle, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Qualys | 1 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 2.33 |
| Oracle | 3 | 18 | 8 | 0 | 2.17 |
Qualys presently has a consensus price target of $93.44, suggesting a potential upside of 9.97%. Oracle has a consensus price target of $56.30, suggesting a potential upside of 5.36%. Given Qualys’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Qualys is more favorable than Oracle.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Qualys and Oracle’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Qualys | $278.89 million | 11.81 | $57.30 million | $1.19 | 71.40 |
| Oracle | $39.51 billion | 4.34 | $11.08 billion | $3.16 | 16.91 |
Oracle has higher revenue and earnings than Qualys. Oracle is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Qualys, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
86.7% of Qualys shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.3% of Oracle shares are held by institutional investors. 17.3% of Qualys shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 36.6% of Oracle shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Qualys and Oracle’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Qualys | 20.27% | 18.15% | 10.74% |
| Oracle | 27.62% | 56.86% | 11.00% |
Summary
Oracle beats Qualys on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
Qualys Company Profile
Qualys, Inc. provides cloud-based security and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which includes Asset Inventory, CMDB Sync, Vulnerability Management, Continuous Monitoring, Cloud Agent, Threat Protection, Security Configuration Assessment, Indication of Compromise, Policy Compliance, PCI Compliance, Security Assessment Questionnaire, File Integrity Monitoring, Web Application Scanning, and Web Application Firewall. Its integrated suite of security and compliance solutions delivered on its Qualys Cloud Platform enables customers to identify IT assets, collect and analyze IT security data, discover and prioritize vulnerabilities, recommend remediation actions, and verify the implementation of such actions. The company also provides core services, including asset tagging and management, reporting and dashboards, questionnaires and collaboration, remediation and workflow, big data correlation and analytics engine, and alerts and notifications, which enable integrated workflows, management and real-time analysis, and reporting across IT security and compliance solutions. The company markets and sells its IT security and compliance solutions to customers directly through its sales teams, as well as indirectly through its network of channel partners, such as security consulting organizations, managed service providers and resellers, and consulting firms. It serves enterprises, government entities, and small and medium-sized businesses in various industries, including education, financial services, government, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, media, retail, technology, and utilities. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.
Oracle Company Profile
Oracle Corporation develops, manufactures, markets, sells, hosts, and supports application, platform, and infrastructure solutions for information technology (IT) environments worldwide. The company provides services in three primary layers of the cloud: Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service. It offers human capital and talent management, enterprise resource planning, customer experience and relationship management, procurement, supply chain management, project portfolio management, business analytics and enterprise performance management, and industry-specific application software, as well as financial management and governance, and risk and compliance applications. The company also licenses its Oracle Database for storage, retrieval, and manipulation of data; and Oracle Fusion Middleware software to build, deploy, secure, access, extend, and integrate business applications, as well as automate business processes. In addition, it provides a range of development tools, identity management, and business analytics software solutions for mobile computing development to address the development needs of businesses; Java, a software development language; and big data solutions. Further, the company provides Oracle Engineered Systems, servers, storage, industry-specific hardware, and hardware support products, as well as operating systems, virtualization, management, and other hardware-related software. Additionally, it provides consulting services, including IT strategy alignment, enterprise architecture planning and design, initial software implementation and integration, application development and integration, security assessments, and ongoing software enhancements and upgrade services; and customer support and education services. The company serves businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and resellers. Oracle Corporation was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.
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