Appian (NASDAQ:APPN – Get Free Report) and SPS Commerce (NASDAQ:SPSC – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
52.7% of Appian shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.0% of SPS Commerce shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.0% of Appian shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of SPS Commerce shares are owned by 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.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Appian and SPS Commerce, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Appian | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| SPS Commerce | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2.60 |
Volatility and Risk
Appian has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its stock price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SPS Commerce has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Appian and SPS Commerce”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Appian | $545.36 million | 4.17 | -$111.44 million | ($1.47) | -21.39 |
| SPS Commerce | $583.80 million | 11.85 | $65.82 million | $1.83 | 102.13 |
SPS Commerce has higher revenue and earnings than Appian. Appian is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SPS Commerce, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Appian and SPS Commerce’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Appian | -18.80% | -532.05% | -14.59% |
| SPS Commerce | 12.31% | 12.41% | 10.06% |
Summary
SPS Commerce beats Appian on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Appian
Appian Corporation, a software company that provides low-code design platform in the United States, Mexico, Portugal, and internationally. The company's platform offers artificial intelligence, process automation, data fabric, and process mining. It provides The Appian Platform, an integrated automation platform that enables organizations to design, automate, and optimize mission-critical business processes. The company also offers professional and customer support services. It serves to financial services, government, life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, telecommunications, and transportation industries. Appian Corporation was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.
About SPS Commerce
SPS Commerce, Inc. provides cloud-based supply chain management solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers solutions through the SPS Commerce, a cloud-based platform that enhances the way retailers, grocers, suppliers, distributors, and logistics firms manage and fulfill omnichannel orders, optimize sell-through performance, and automate new trading relationships. The company also provides Fulfillment, an electronic data interchange solution that scales as a business grows, where companies use a single system to manage orders and logistics from various sales channels, including wholesale, eCommerce, and marketplaces; and Analytics product that enables organizations to enhance visibility into how products are selling through a single connection across various sales channels, including wholesale, eCommerce, and marketplaces, as well as enhances access and usage of sales and inventory data through a combination of analytics applications, network of connections, and industry-leading expertise. In addition, it offers various complimentary products, such as assortment product, which simplifies the communication of robust, accurate item data by automatically translating item attributes, and hierarchies; and community product that allows organizations to accelerate digitization of their supply chain and improve collaboration with suppliers through change management and onboarding programs. The company was formerly known as St. Paul Software, Inc. and changed its name to SPS Commerce, Inc. in May 2001. SPS Commerce, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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