Financial Review: Astea International (OTCMKTS:ATEA) versus Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE)

Astea International (OTCMKTS:ATEA) and Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Astea International has a beta of -0.3, meaning that its share price is 130% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Adobe has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

81.8% of Adobe shares are held by institutional investors. 57.5% of Astea International shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Adobe shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Astea International and Adobe, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astea International	0	0	0	0	N/A
Adobe	2	7	21	0	2.63

Adobe has a consensus price target of $607.67, indicating a potential upside of 14.94%. Given Adobe’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Adobe is more favorable than Astea International.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Astea International and Adobe’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astea International	$27.47 million	1.69	$360,000.00	N/A	N/A
Adobe	$20.43 billion	11.59	$5.43 billion	$11.13	47.50

Adobe has higher revenue and earnings than Astea International.

Profitability

This table compares Astea International and Adobe’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astea International	-7.77%	-6.85%	-12.99%
Adobe	24.86%	40.67%	21.64%

Summary

Adobe beats Astea International on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Astea International

Astea International Inc. develops, markets, and supports service management software solutions worldwide. It offers Astea Alliance, a service management software that addresses the service lifecycle applications, including lead generation, project quotation, service and billing, and asset retirement; and integrates and optimizes business processes for campaigns, call center, depot repair, field service, logistics, projects, and sales and order processing applications. The company also provides FieldCentrix Enterprise suite, a service management solution that runs on various mobile devices; and integrates with customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning applications. In addition, it supports deployments in on-premise, as well as cloud environments by leveraging a multi-tenant architecture; and provides infrastructure tools and services, as well as consulting, implementation, training, and maintenance services. The company's products are used in information technology, medical devices and diagnostic systems, industrial controls and instrumentation, retail/point-of-sale equipment, office automation equipment, imaging systems, fire and security, gaming/leisure equipment, facilities management, and telecommunications, and other related industries with equipment sales and service requirements. Astea International Inc. markets its products through a network of direct and indirect sales and services offices; and distributors consisting of value-added resellers, system integrators, and sales agents, as well as original equipment manufacturing partners. The company was formerly known as Applied System Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Astea International Inc. in 1992. Astea International Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania.

About Adobe

Adobe Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified software company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Digital Media, Digital Experience, and Publishing and Advertising. The Digital Media segment offers products, services, and solutions that enable individuals, teams, and enterprises to create, publish, and promote content; and Document Cloud, a unified cloud-based document services platform. Its flagship product is Creative Cloud, a subscription service that allows members to access its creative products. This segment serves content creators, students, workers, marketers, educators, enthusiasts, and communicators. The Digital Experience segment provides an integrated platform and set of applications and services that enable brands and businesses to create, manage, execute, measure, monetize, and optimize customer experiences from analytics to commerce. This segment serves marketers, advertisers, agencies, publishers, merchandisers, merchants, web analysts, data scientists, developers, and executives across the C-suite. The Publishing and Advertising segment offers products and services, such as e-learning solutions, technical document publishing, web conferencing, document and forms platform, web application development, and high-end printing, as well as Advertising Cloud offerings. It also provides consulting, technical support, and learning services. The company offers its products and services directly to enterprise customers through its sales force and local field offices, as well as to end users through app stores and through its website at adobe.com. It also distributes products and services through distributors, value-added resellers, systems integrators, software vendors and developers, retailers, and original equipment manufacturers. The company was formerly known as Adobe Systems Incorporated and changed its name to Adobe Inc. in October 2018. Adobe Inc. was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.