LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) vs. ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) Head to Head Contrast

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.4% of ANSYS shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.8% of LivePerson shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of ANSYS shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.0% of LivePerson 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for ANSYS and LivePerson, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ANSYS	1	2	1	0	2.00
LivePerson	1	7	0	0	1.88

ANSYS presently has a consensus price target of $346.67, indicating a potential upside of 1.36%. LivePerson has a consensus price target of $1.25, indicating a potential downside of 7.41%. Given ANSYS’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe ANSYS is more favorable than LivePerson.

Volatility & Risk

ANSYS has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LivePerson has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its stock price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ANSYS and LivePerson”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ANSYS	$2.27 billion	13.18	$500.41 million	$6.48	52.78
LivePerson	$334.74 million	0.36	-$100.43 million	($1.53)	-0.88

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ANSYS	23.01%	12.64%	9.55%
LivePerson	-18.72%	-111.48%	-6.78%

Summary

ANSYS beats LivePerson on 12 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 LivePerson

LivePerson, Inc. engages in conversational artificial intelligence. It enables brands to leverage the Conversational Cloud's intelligence engine to connect with consumers through an integrated suite of mobile and online business messaging technologies. The company offers the Conversational Cloud, an enterprise-class digital customer conversation platform, which enables businesses and consumers to connect through conversational channels, such as voice, in-app, and mobile messaging. It also provides professional services; LivePerson's Conversational AI, including conversation builder, manager, and intelligence, and intent manager. In addition, it provides Voice AI, conversational intelligence and insights, and integration services. The company sells its products to Fortune 500 companies, Internet businesses, online merchants, automotive dealers, educational institution, public sector, and not-for-profit organizations. It operates in the United States, Canada, Latin America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom, and the Asia-Pacific. LivePerson, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in New York, New York.