Analyzing Conduent (NASDAQ:CNDT) and Asure Software (NASDAQ:ASUR)

Asure Software (NASDAQ:ASUR) and Conduent (NASDAQ:CNDT) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.6% of Asure Software shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.3% of Conduent shares are held by institutional investors. 8.9% of Asure Software shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Conduent shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Asure Software and Conduent, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Asure Software	1	1	2	1	2.60
Conduent	1	1	0	1	2.33

Asure Software presently has a consensus target price of $13.00, indicating a potential upside of 35.42%. Given Asure Software’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Asure Software is more favorable than Conduent.

Volatility & Risk

Asure Software has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Conduent has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Asure Software and Conduent”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Asure Software	$159.20 million	1.82	-$13.13 million	($0.12)	-80.00
Conduent	$2.94 billion	0.09	-$170.00 million	($1.52)	-1.08

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

Profitability

This table compares Asure Software and Conduent’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Asure Software	-2.30%	9.46%	3.72%
Conduent	-8.17%	-9.02%	-2.43%

Summary

Asure Software beats Conduent on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Asure Software

Asure Software, Inc. engages in the provision of cloud-based Human Capital Management (HCM) software solutions in the United States. It provides its human resources (HR) tool as Software-as-a-Service that helps various small and medium-sized businesses to build productive workforce to help them stay compliant and allocate resources to grow their business. The company's solutions include Asure Payroll & Tax, an integrated solution that simplifies payroll and automates regulations associated with payroll and taxes, including wages, benefits, overtime, garnishments, tips, direct deposits, and fair labor standard act, as well as federal, state, and local payroll taxes; and Tax Management Solutions, that provides payroll tax processing software and service solutions, as well as bulk filing and processing support of employee retention tax credits, for the payroll service industry, mid-market, and corporate employers. It also provides HR compliance and services, including HR support, which provides an on-demand HR resource library, phone, and email support for various HR issues and compliance, and policy updates; Strategic HR, which provides in-depth support for strategic HR decision making; and Total HR, which provides a complete HR outsourcing solution, for handling HR complexities, such as employee self-service, applicant tracking, onboarding, and compliance. In addition, the company offers Time and Attendance, which provides cost savings and return on investment gains come in the form of strategic use of labor dollars and the elimination of time theft; and AsureMarketplace that automates interactions between its HCM systems with third-party providers. Asure Software, Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Conduent

Conduent Incorporated provides digital business solutions and services for the commercial, government, and transportation spectrum in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Commercial, Government Services, and Transportation. The Commercial segment offers business process services and customized solutions to clients in various industries; and customer experience management, business operations, healthcare claims and administration, and human capital solutions. The Government segment provides government-centric business process services to the United States federal, state, local, and foreign governments for public assistance, program administration, transaction processing, and payment services; and digital payments, child support payments, government healthcare, and eligibility and enrollment solutions. The Transportation segment offers systems, support, and revenue-generating solutions to government transportation agency clients; and public safety, mobility, and digital payment solutions. This segment also provides electronic tolling, urban congestion management, and mileage-based user solutions; transit solutions; citation and permit administration, parking enforcement, and curbside demand management solutions; and computer-aided dispatch/automatic vehicle location solutions. Conduent Incorporated was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey.