Head to Head Analysis: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) and X3 (NASDAQ:XTKG)

X3 (NASDAQ:XTKG) and VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares X3 and VeriSign’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
X3	N/A	N/A	N/A
VeriSign	55.74%	-45.59%	49.06%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares X3 and VeriSign”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
X3	$16.83 million	0.01	-$109.60 million	N/A	N/A
VeriSign	$1.49 billion	12.33	$817.60 million	$8.60	22.28

VeriSign has higher revenue and earnings than X3.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.9% of X3 shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of VeriSign shares are held by institutional investors. 23.9% of X3 shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of VeriSign shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for X3 and VeriSign, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
X3	0	0	0	0	0.00
VeriSign	0	1	1	0	2.50

VeriSign has a consensus price target of $218.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.76%. Given VeriSign’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe VeriSign is more favorable than X3.

Volatility & Risk

X3 has a beta of 1.55, indicating that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VeriSign has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

VeriSign beats X3 on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About X3

X3 Holdings Co Ltd. provides technology solutions and services worldwide. The company offers Global Trade Platform, a digital platform for trading partners, service providers, and government authorities. It also engages in bitcoin cryptomining operations, renewable energy projects, and agriculture technologies and trading. The company was formerly known as Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd. and changed its name to X3 Holdings Co Ltd. in January 2024. X3 Holdings Co Ltd. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce. It operates directory for .name and .cc; and back-end systems for .edu, domain names. VeriSign, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.