Financial Review: ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) and Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE)

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) and Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ANSYS and Aware”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ANSYS	$2.54 billion	11.48	$575.69 million	$6.55	50.88
Aware	$16.97 million	2.00	-$7.31 million	($0.36)	-4.44

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

Volatility and Risk

ANSYS has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aware has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for ANSYS and Aware, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ANSYS	0	2	1	0	2.33
Aware	0	0	0	0	0.00

ANSYS presently has a consensus target price of $352.50, indicating a potential upside of 5.78%. Given ANSYS’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe ANSYS is more favorable than Aware.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.4% of ANSYS shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.4% of Aware shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of ANSYS shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 28.0% of Aware shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares ANSYS and Aware’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ANSYS	22.62%	12.69%	9.65%
Aware	-44.06%	-14.46%	-10.72%

Summary

ANSYS beats Aware on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ANSYS

ANSYS, Inc. develops and markets engineering simulation software and services for engineers, designers, researchers, and students in the United States, Japan, Germany, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It offers structural analysis product suite that provides simulation tools for product design and optimization; the Ansys Mechanical product, an element analysis software; LS-DYNA solver for multiphysics simulation; and power analysis and optimization software suite. The company also offers electronics product suite that provides electromagnetic field simulation software for designing electronic and electromechanical products; Ansys High Frequency Structure Simulator product for radio frequency and microwave design; SCADE product suite, a solution for embedded software simulation, code production, and automated certification; fluids product suite that enables modeling of fluid flow and other related physical phenomena; Ansys Fluent computational fluid dynamics software package; Ansys RedHawk-SC for electronic design automation; Ansys Optics software; and mission-simulation, modeling, testing, and analysis software. In addition, it offers Ansys Granta MI system for materials information management; Ansys Granta Selector technology for materials selection and graphical analysis; CES EduPack product, a set of teaching resources; Granta Materials Data for Simulation; Ansys Lumerical product, a photonics simulation software solution; safety-certified embedded software solutions; Discovery product family for use in the simulation of product design; academic product suite for research and teaching settings. ANSYS, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

About Aware

Aware, Inc., an authentication company, provides biometrics software products and solutions for government agencies and commercial entities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers biometric software solution, including Knomi, a mobile biometric framework which provides multiple biometric modality options; AwareABIS, an automated biometric identification system used for large-scale biometric identification and deduplication; AFIX suite used for small-scale law enforcement focused biometric identification; and AFIX Tracker for fingerprint, palmprint, and latent print identification, as well as AFIX Face, AFIX Verifier, AFIX Identifier, AFIX Comparator, AFIX Engine, and AFIX NIST Transaction Engine. It also provides BioSP, a biometric integration platform-as-a-service that enables biometric data processing and management functionality in a web services architecture; WebEnroll, a browser-based biometric enrollment and data management solution; and AwareID, a software-as-a-service that provides identity verification and continuous authentication capabilities. In addition, the company offers biometrics applications, such as Nexa line, a biometric search and match SDKs including Nexa Fingerprint, Nexa Face, Nexa Iris, and Nexa Voice; and AwareXM, an interoperable fingerprint matching SDK that provides fingerprint minutiae extraction, template generation, and fingerprint authentication. Further, it sells imaging products used in medical and advanced imaging application; and offers software maintenance, program management, and software engineering services. The company sells its products, services, and solutions through systems integrators, direct, and original equipment manufacturers and value added resellers channel. Aware, Inc. was incorporated in 1986 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.