Head-To-Head Review: Stem (NYSE:STEM) vs. BOX (NYSE:BOX)

BOX (NYSE:BOX) and Stem (NYSE:STEM) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BOX and Stem”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BOX	$1.18 billion	4.06	$115.38 million	$0.69	50.48
Stem	$156.27 million	0.29	$137.76 million	($8.49)	-0.56

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.7% of BOX shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.6% of Stem shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of BOX shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of Stem shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for BOX and Stem, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BOX	1	5	3	0	2.22
Stem	1	4	0	0	1.80

BOX presently has a consensus target price of $37.80, suggesting a potential upside of 8.52%. Stem has a consensus target price of $7.45, suggesting a potential upside of 56.88%. Given Stem’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Stem is more favorable than BOX.

Risk and Volatility

BOX has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stem has a beta of 1.52, suggesting that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares BOX and Stem’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BOX	10.59%	-20.97%	4.47%
Stem	-49.37%	N/A	-21.85%

Summary

BOX beats Stem on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BOX

Box, Inc. engages in the provision of an enterprise content platform that enables organizations to securely manage enterprise content while allowing easy, secure access and sharing of this content from anywhere, on any device. Its products include cloud content management, IT and admin controls, Box Governance, Box Zones, Box Relay, Box Shuttle, and Box KeySafe. The company was founded by Aaron Levie, Dylan Smith, Jeff Queisser, and Sam Ghods in March 2005 and is headquartered in Redwood City, CA.

About Stem

Stem, Inc. operates as a digitally connected, intelligent, and renewable energy storage network provider worldwide. The company offers energy storage hardware sourced from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs); edge hardware to aid in the collection of site data and real-time operation and control of the site and other optional equipment; and Athena, a software platform, which offers battery hardware and software-enabled services to operate the energy storage systems. It serves commercial and industrial enterprises, independent power producers, renewable project developers, and utilities and grid operators. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.