Critical Contrast: Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) and MiX Telematics (NYSE:MIXT)

Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) and MiX Telematics (NYSE:MIXT) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

69.3% of Shopify shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.7% of MiX Telematics shares are held by institutional investors. 12.4% of MiX Telematics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Shopify and MiX Telematics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shopify	0	10	31	2	2.81
MiX Telematics	0	0	0	0	0.00

Shopify presently has a consensus price target of $162.64, indicating a potential upside of 34.71%. Given Shopify’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Shopify is more favorable than MiX Telematics.

Profitability

This table compares Shopify and MiX Telematics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shopify	10.65%	11.52%	9.74%
MiX Telematics	3.72%	8.45%	5.11%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Shopify and MiX Telematics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shopify	$11.56 billion	13.60	$1.23 billion	$0.93	129.82
MiX Telematics	$150.06 million	2.36	$4.52 million	$0.25	58.20

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

Volatility & Risk

Shopify has a beta of 2.83, suggesting that its share price is 183% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MiX Telematics has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Shopify beats MiX Telematics on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shopify

Shopify Inc., a commerce company, provides a commerce platform and services in Canada, the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, China, and Latin America. The company’s platform enables merchants to displays, manages, markets, and sells its products through various sales channels, including web and mobile storefronts, physical retail locations, pop-up shops, social media storefronts, native mobile apps, buy buttons, and marketplaces; and enables to manage products and inventory, process orders and payments, fulfill and ship orders, new buyers and build customer relationships, source products, leverage analytics and reporting, manage cash, payments and transactions, and access financing. It also sells custom themes and apps, and registration of domain names; and merchant solutions, which include accepting payments, shipping, and securing working capital. The company was formerly known as Jaded Pixel Technologies Inc. and changed its name to Shopify Inc. in November 2011. Shopify Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada.

About MiX Telematics

MiX Telematics Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides fleet and mobile asset management solutions through software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model. It offers MiX Fleet Manager, a commercial fleet management solution comprising MyMiX, an innovative driver engagement platform; MiX Vision, an on-road and in-vehicle video recording solution; MiX Rovi, an in-vehicle display and communications system; MiX RIBAS and DriveMate, an in-cab driving aid solution; MiX Hours of Service, which allows real-time monitoring and compliance; MiX Journey Management, an easy-to-use electronic alternative to paper-based systems; and MiX OEM Connect allows customer instant, direct integration to relevant, and powerful telematics data. The company provides MiX Asset Manager, asset tracking products including generators, light towers, storage tanks and pumps, and asset management solution for visibility of corporate assets; and Matrix, a suite of mobile asset management solutions for entry-level fleets and consumers, which offers real-time and historical vehicle tracking, and positioning, unauthorized vehicle use alerts, panic emergency response, crash alerts, driver behavior alerts, fuel tax logbooks, and vehicle maintenance notifications. In addition, it offers Beam-e, a crowdsourcing platform to locate vehicles without the expense of utilizing a traditional cellular network connection. The company delivers fleet and mobile asset management solutions as SaaS to 1,001,800 subscribers in South Africa, the Americas, the Middle East, Australia, Europe, and Brazil. MiX Telematics Limited was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.