NetScout Systems (NASDAQ:NTCT – Get Free Report) and Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT – Get Free Report) are both technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current recommendations for NetScout Systems and Harmonic, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| NetScout Systems | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2.50 |
| Harmonic | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2.17 |
NetScout Systems presently has a consensus price target of $35.50, indicating a potential downside of 7.65%. Harmonic has a consensus price target of $16.60, indicating a potential upside of 40.20%. Given Harmonic’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Harmonic is more favorable than NetScout Systems.
Volatility & Risk
Insider and Institutional Ownership
91.6% of NetScout Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.4% of Harmonic shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.7% of NetScout Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Harmonic shares are owned 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.
Profitability
This table compares NetScout Systems and Harmonic’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| NetScout Systems | 13.71% | 9.25% | 6.59% |
| Harmonic | -7.50% | 7.84% | 4.30% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares NetScout Systems and Harmonic”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| NetScout Systems | $859.48 million | 3.25 | $95.53 million | $1.30 | 29.57 |
| Harmonic | $570.80 million | 2.25 | -$43.31 million | ($0.37) | -32.00 |
NetScout Systems has higher revenue and earnings than Harmonic. Harmonic is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NetScout Systems, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
NetScout Systems beats Harmonic on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
About Harmonic
Harmonic Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides broadband solutions worldwide. The company operates through Broadband and Video segments. The Broadband segment sells broadband access solutions and related services, including cOS software-based broadband access solutions to broadband operators; and cOS central cloud services, a subscription service for cOS customers. The Video segment sells video processing, production, and playout solutions and services to cable operators, and satellite and telco Pay-TV service providers, as well as to broadcast and media, including streaming media companies. Its video processing appliance solutions include network management and application software, and hardware products, such as encoders, video servers, high-density stream processing systems, and edge processors. This segment also provides VOS360 SaaS platform that provides both streaming and channel origination and distribution services; and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, which enables the packaging and delivery of streaming services, including live streaming, VOD, catch-up TV, start-over TV, network-DVR and cloud-DVR services through HTTP streaming to various device along with dynamic and personal ad insertion. The company also provides technical support and professional services, such as maintenance and support, consulting, implementation, integration services, program management, technical design and planning, building and site preparation, integration and equipment installation, end-to-end system testing, and training, as well as SaaS-related support and deployment. It sells its products through its direct sales force, as well as through independent resellers and systems integrators. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
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