Comparing BILL (NYSE:BILL) & CLEAR Secure (NYSE:YOU)

CLEAR Secure (NYSE:YOU) and BILL (NYSE:BILL) are both mid-cap technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for CLEAR Secure and BILL, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CLEAR Secure	1	4	4	0	2.33
BILL	1	6	12	1	2.65

CLEAR Secure currently has a consensus target price of $58.29, indicating a potential upside of 53.47%. BILL has a consensus target price of $58.67, indicating a potential upside of 23.25%. Given CLEAR Secure’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe CLEAR Secure is more favorable than BILL.

Volatility & Risk

CLEAR Secure has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BILL has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CLEAR Secure and BILL”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CLEAR Secure	$900.78 million	5.70	$109.17 million	$1.47	25.84
BILL	$1.65 billion	2.46	-$11.24 million	($0.13)	-366.14

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

Profitability

This table compares CLEAR Secure and BILL’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CLEAR Secure	14.78%	71.51%	10.90%
BILL	-0.68%	3.74%	1.39%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.8% of CLEAR Secure shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.0% of BILL shares are held by institutional investors. 29.7% of CLEAR Secure shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.2% of BILL shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

CLEAR Secure beats BILL on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CLEAR Secure

Clear Secure, Inc. operates a secure identity platform under the CLEAR brand name primarily in the United States. Its secure identity platform is a multi-layered infrastructure consisting of front-end, including enrollment, verification, and linking, as well as back-end. The company also offers CLEAR Plus, a consumer aviation subscription service, which enables access to predictable entry lanes in airport security checkpoints, as well as access to broader network; and CLEAR mobile app, which is used to enroll new members and improve the experience for existing members. In addition, it provides RESERVE powered by CLEAR, a virtual queuing technology that provides users with the ability to book a dedicated time slot to go through security at the airport; CLEAR Verified, a B2B offering that extends secure identity platform to partners to create friction-free experiences for their customers; TSA PreCheck Enrollment Provided by CLEAR, as well as online renewal services; Atlas Certified, an automated solution to verify professional licenses and certification data across industries; and Sora ID that enables adding know your customer services to platform offerings, as well as virtual queuing technology that enables customers to manage lines. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Clear Secure, Inc. is a subsidiary of Alclear Investments, Llc.

About BILL

BILL Holdings, Inc. provides financial automation software for small and midsize businesses worldwide. The company provides software-as-a-service, cloud-based payments, and spend management products, which allow users to automate accounts payable and accounts receivable transactions, as well as enable users to connect with their suppliers and/or customers to do business, eliminate expense reports, manage cash flows, and improve office efficiency. It also offers onboarding implementation support, and ongoing support and training services. In addition, the company's artificial intelligence enabled software provides connections between suppliers and clients. It serves accounting firms, financial institutions, and software companies. The company was formerly known as Bill.com Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to BILL Holdings, Inc. in February 2023. BILL Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.