AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC – Get Free Report) and NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT – Get Free Report) are both technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.
Profitability
This table compares AudioCodes and NetScout Systems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| AudioCodes | 2.83% | 6.79% | 3.45% |
| NetScout Systems | 13.71% | 9.25% | 6.59% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
68.0% of AudioCodes shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of NetScout Systems shares are held by institutional investors. 48.8% of AudioCodes shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.7% of NetScout Systems shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Earnings & Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| AudioCodes | $245.60 million | 0.98 | $8.95 million | $0.26 | 38.46 |
| NetScout Systems | $859.48 million | 3.27 | $95.53 million | $1.64 | 23.56 |
NetScout Systems has higher revenue and earnings than AudioCodes. NetScout Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AudioCodes, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for AudioCodes and NetScout Systems, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| AudioCodes | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| NetScout Systems | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2.50 |
NetScout Systems has a consensus target price of $35.50, indicating a potential downside of 8.13%. Given NetScout Systems’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe NetScout Systems is more favorable than AudioCodes.
Risk and Volatility
AudioCodes has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NetScout Systems has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
NetScout Systems beats AudioCodes on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About AudioCodes
AudioCodes Ltd. provides advanced communications software, products, and productivity solutions for the digital workplace worldwide. The company offers solutions, products, and services for unified communications, contact centers, hosted business services, Voice.AI, and service provider businesses. Its products include session border controllers, life cycle management solutions, VoIP network routing solutions, media gateways and servers, multi-service business routers, IP phones solutions, and value-added applications, as well as professional services. The company also offers One Voice Operations Center, a voice network management solution; Device Manager for administering business phones and meeting room solutions; AudioCodes Routing Manager for handling call routing in VoIP networks; and User Management Pack 365 simplifies user lifecycle and identity management across Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business deployments. In addition, it provides AudioCodes Live for Microsoft Teams, a portfolio of managed services for simplifying Teams adoption; appliances for Microsoft Skype/Teams for Business, such as survivable branch appliances, CCE, and CloudBond 365; and a range of value-added voice applications comprising SmartTAP, Voca, VoiceAI Connect, and Meeting Insights. Further, the company offers managed services; and AudioCodes Live Platform is a SaaS solution that enables service providers to offer their business customers a seamless migration to uCaaS solutions, such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom Phone. It primarily markets and sells its products through a direct sales force and sales representatives to original equipment manufacturers, network equipment providers, and systems integrators, enterprises, carriers, and distributors in the telecommunications and networking industries. AudioCodes Ltd. was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Lod, Israel.
About NetScout Systems
NetScout Systems, Inc. provides service assurance and cybersecurity solutions for protect digital business services against disruptions in the United States, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers nGeniusONE management software that enables customers to predict, preempt, and resolve network and service delivery problems, as well as facilitate the optimization and capacity planning of their network infrastructures; and specialized platforms and analytic modules that enable its customers to analyze and troubleshoot traffic in radio access and Wi-Fi networks. It also provides nGeniusPULSE, an active testing tool that enables enterprises to identify infrastructure performance issues and determine application availability, reliability, and performance; and nGenius Business Analytics solution, which enables service providers to analyze their network traffic. In addition, the company offers ISNG, an advanced passive network probe; packet flow systems that deliver targeted network traffic access to various monitoring and security tools and systems; and a suite of test access points that enable non-disruptive access to network traffic. Further, it provides cybersecurity solutions to protect their networks against distributed denial of service attacks under the Arbor brand, such as Arbor Sightline, Arbor Threat Mitigation System, Arbor Insight, Arbor Edge Defense, and Arbor Cloud. Additionally, the company offers advanced threat detection solutions, such as Omnis Cyber Investigator. It serves enterprise customers in various industries, including financial services, technology, manufacturing, healthcare, utilities, education, transportation, and retail; mobile operators, wireline operators, cable operators, Internet service providers, and cloud providers; and governmental agencies through a direct sales force, and indirect reseller and distribution channels. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts.
Receive News & Ratings for AudioCodes Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AudioCodes and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
