LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) and Agent Information Software (OTCMKTS:AIFS) Head-To-Head Contrast

LegalZoom.com (NASDAQ:LZ) and Agent Information Software (OTCMKTS:AIFS) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for LegalZoom.com and Agent Information Software, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LegalZoom.com	2	6	1	0	1.89
Agent Information Software	0	0	0	0	0.00

LegalZoom.com currently has a consensus target price of $8.79, suggesting a potential upside of 13.22%. Given LegalZoom.com’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe LegalZoom.com is more favorable than Agent Information Software.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.0% of LegalZoom.com shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.8% of Agent Information Software shares are held by institutional investors. 10.5% of LegalZoom.com shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

LegalZoom.com has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agent Information Software has a beta of 0.29, suggesting that its stock price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LegalZoom.com and Agent Information Software”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LegalZoom.com	$678.84 million	1.98	$13.95 million	$0.13	59.69
Agent Information Software	$5.41 million	1.24	$200,000.00	$0.04	36.25

LegalZoom.com has higher revenue and earnings than Agent Information Software. Agent Information Software is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LegalZoom.com, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

LegalZoom.com pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.6%. Agent Information Software pays an annual dividend of $0.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. LegalZoom.com pays out 1,107.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Agent Information Software pays out 75.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares LegalZoom.com and Agent Information Software’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LegalZoom.com	3.61%	32.88%	9.31%
Agent Information Software	3.62%	N/A	N/A

Summary

LegalZoom.com beats Agent Information Software on 14 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LegalZoom.com

LegalZoom.com, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates an online platform that supports the legal, compliance, and business management needs of small businesses and consumers in the United States. The company’s platform offers business formation products, such as limited liability company, incorporation of C and S corporations, nonprofit formations, doing-business-as, corporate changes and filings, business licenses, legal forms, and beneficial ownership information reports; intellectual property products consisting of trademark and patent applications, and copyright registrations; and tax services, including business and personal tax preparations. It also provides consumer, estate planning, and other services comprising last will and testament, living will, living trust, power of attorney, and name change. In addition, the company offers subscriptions services, including registered agent, compliance, attorney advice, tax advice and preparation, eSignature, virtual mail and check deposit services, trademark monitoring, and estate planning bundle. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

About Agent Information Software

Agent Information Software, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides software products and services used to create, manage, publish, and access information content via Internet or Web. It offers its software products and services to customers in the library community in the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California.