ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW – Get Free Report) and Coursera (NYSE:COUR – Get Free Report) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and profitability.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares ACI Worldwide and Coursera”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| ACI Worldwide | $1.62 billion | 3.45 | $121.51 million | $2.11 | 25.22 |
| Coursera | $684.37 million | 1.97 | -$116.55 million | ($0.51) | -16.73 |
ACI Worldwide has higher revenue and earnings than Coursera. Coursera is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ACI Worldwide, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility & Risk
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for ACI Worldwide and Coursera, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| ACI Worldwide | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2.50 |
| Coursera | 1 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 2.62 |
ACI Worldwide currently has a consensus price target of $49.50, suggesting a potential downside of 6.97%. Coursera has a consensus price target of $10.52, suggesting a potential upside of 23.34%. Given Coursera’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Coursera is more favorable than ACI Worldwide.
Profitability
This table compares ACI Worldwide and Coursera’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| ACI Worldwide | 14.04% | 21.67% | 8.45% |
| Coursera | -11.44% | -10.43% | -6.86% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
94.7% of ACI Worldwide shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.6% of Coursera shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of ACI Worldwide shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 16.3% of Coursera shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
ACI Worldwide beats Coursera on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About ACI Worldwide
ACI Worldwide, Inc., a software company, develops, markets, installs, and supports a range of software products and solutions for facilitating digital payments in the United States and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Banks, Merchants, and Billers. The company offers ACI Acquiring, a solution to process credit, debit, and prepaid card transactions, deliver digital innovation, and fraud prevention; ACI Issuing, a digital payment issuing solution for new payment offering; and ACI Enterprise Payments Platform that provides payment processing and orchestration capabilities for digital payments. It also provides ACI Low Value Real-Time Payments, a platform for processing real-time payments; and ACI High Value Real-Time Payments, a payments engine that offers multi-bank, multi-currency, 24×7 payment processing, and SWIFT messaging. In addition, the company offers ACI Payments Orchestration Platform for optimizing payments; omni-channel payment platform; ACI Fraud Management, a real-time approach to fraud management; and ACI Speedpay, an integrated suite of digital billing, payment, disbursement, and communication services. The company offers electronic bill presentment and payment services to consumer finance, insurance, healthcare, higher education, utility, government, telecommunications, and mortgage sectors; implementation services, include product installations and configurations, and custom software modifications; and business and technical consultancy, on-site support, product education, and testing services, as well as distributes or acts as a sales agent for software developed by third parties. It markets its products under the ACI Worldwide brand. The company was formerly known as Transaction Systems Architects, Inc. and changed its name to ACI Worldwide, Inc. in July 2007. The company was founded in 1975 and is based in Elkhorn, Nebraska.
About Coursera
Coursera, Inc. operates an online educational content platform in the United States, Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Consumer, Enterprise, and Degrees. The company offers guided projects, courses, and specializations, as well as online degrees; and certificates for entry-level professional, non-entry level professional, university, and MasterTrack. It offers its products to individuals, enterprise, business, campus, and government. The company was formerly known as Dkandu, Inc. and changed its name to Coursera, Inc. in April 2012. Coursera, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
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