NiCE (NASDAQ:NICE – Get Free Report) and C3.ai (NYSE:AI – Get Free Report) are both technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
63.3% of NiCE shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.0% of C3.ai shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of NiCE shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.8% of C3.ai shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for NiCE and C3.ai, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| NiCE | 0 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 2.56 |
| C3.ai | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1.64 |
NiCE presently has a consensus target price of $129.79, suggesting a potential upside of 36.12%. C3.ai has a consensus target price of $9.62, suggesting a potential downside of 20.22%. Given NiCE’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe NiCE is more favorable than C3.ai.
Profitability
This table compares NiCE and C3.ai’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| NiCE | 12.01% | 14.34% | 10.66% |
| C3.ai | -192.10% | -61.25% | -49.03% |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares NiCE and C3.ai”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| NiCE | $3.13 billion | 1.78 | $612.10 million | $6.18 | 15.43 |
| C3.ai | $232.38 million | 8.35 | -$470.37 million | ($3.08) | -3.92 |
NiCE has higher revenue and earnings than C3.ai. C3.ai is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NiCE, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility and Risk
NiCE has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, C3.ai has a beta of 2.17, indicating that its stock price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
NiCE beats C3.ai on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About NiCE
NiCE Ltd. (NASDAQ: NICE), formerly known as NICE Systems, is a software company founded in Israel in 1986. It develops cloud-based and artificial intelligence-powered tools for businesses and public-sector organizations. Its products help organizations manage customer service across phone, chat and other digital channels, analyze customer interactions, and support contact-center operations. The company’s offerings include NICE CXone for customer experience and contact-center management, as well as NICE Actimize, which provides financial crime, risk and compliance software.
About C3.ai
C3.ai, Inc. is an enterprise software company that develops artificial intelligence applications and tools for businesses and government organizations. Its offerings are designed to help customers use data to address operational and analytical needs across industries including energy, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare and defense. The company’s products include the C3 AI Platform, which provides tools for developing, deploying and operating AI applications using enterprise data, as well as ready-made applications for use cases such as predictive maintenance, supply chain management and fraud detection.
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