Head-To-Head Analysis: UiPath (NYSE:PATH) and Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX)

UiPath (NYSE:PATH) and Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares UiPath and Vertex’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UiPath	17.53%	5.69%	3.71%
Vertex	0.96%	24.70%	4.95%

Volatility and Risk

UiPath has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vertex has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares UiPath and Vertex”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UiPath	$1.61 billion	4.00	$282.33 million	$0.52	23.19
Vertex	$748.44 million	2.75	$7.21 million	$0.04	321.50

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

62.5% of UiPath shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.3% of Vertex shares are held by institutional investors. 23.2% of UiPath shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 43.3% of Vertex shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for UiPath and Vertex, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UiPath	1	14	3	0	2.11
Vertex	1	7	7	0	2.40

UiPath presently has a consensus price target of $14.07, indicating a potential upside of 16.67%. Vertex has a consensus price target of $23.07, indicating a potential upside of 79.37%. Given Vertex’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vertex is more favorable than UiPath.

Summary

Vertex beats UiPath on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UiPath

UiPath Inc. provides an end-to-end automation platform that offers a range of robotic process automation (RPA) solutions primarily in the United States, Romania, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company offers a suite of interrelated software to build, manage, run, engage, measure, and govern automation within the organization. Its platform's embedded AI, ML, and NLP capabilities improve decisioning and information processing; emulate human behavior allows organizations to address a myriad of use cases; emulate human behavior allows organizations to address a myriad of use cases; multi-tenant platform enterprise deployment with security and governance and Automation Cloud, which enables customers to begin automating without the need to provision infrastructure, install applications, or perform additional configurations; intuitive interface and low-code, drag-and-drop functionality; signed to enable people and automations to work together; and tracks, measures, and forecasts the performance of automations, enables customers to gain powerful insights and generate key performance indicators with actionable metric. It serves banking and financial services, healthcare, insurance, public sectors, manufacturing, retail, and telecom industries. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Vertex

Vertex, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides enterprise tax technology solutions for retail trade, wholesale trade, and manufacturing industries in the United States and internationally. The company offers tax determination; compliance and reporting, including workflow management tools, role-based security, and event logging; tax data management; document management; analytics and insights; pre-built integration that includes mapping data fields, and business logic and configurations; industry-specific solutions; and technology specific solutions, such as chain flow accelerator and SAP-specific tools. It provides implementation services, such as configuration, data migration and implementation, and support and training; and managed services, including tax return preparation, filing and tax payment, and notice management. The company sells its software products through software licenses and software as a service subscription. Vertex, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.