Benefitfocus (NASDAQ: BNFT) and RingCentral (NYSE:RNG) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings and profitabiliy.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Benefitfocus and RingCentral, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Benefitfocus | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2.88 |
| RingCentral | 0 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 2.85 |
Benefitfocus presently has a consensus target price of $40.43, indicating a potential upside of 16.85%. RingCentral has a consensus target price of $38.17, indicating a potential upside of 10.47%. Given Benefitfocus’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Benefitfocus is more favorable than RingCentral.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
83.2% of Benefitfocus shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.4% of RingCentral shares are owned by institutional investors. 40.1% of Benefitfocus shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.5% of RingCentral shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility & Risk
Benefitfocus has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, RingCentral has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Benefitfocus and RingCentral’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Benefitfocus | $242.71 million | 4.43 | -$13.15 million | ($1.15) | -30.09 |
| RingCentral | $404.98 million | 5.31 | -$12.20 million | ($0.41) | -84.27 |
RingCentral has higher revenue and earnings than Benefitfocus. RingCentral is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Benefitfocus, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Benefitfocus and RingCentral’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Benefitfocus | -14.17% | N/A | -20.36% |
| RingCentral | -5.89% | -19.57% | -10.94% |
Summary
RingCentral beats Benefitfocus on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
Benefitfocus Company Profile
Benefitfocus, Inc. (Benefitfocus) is a provider of cloud-based benefits management platform for consumers, employers, insurance carriers and brokers. The Benefitfocus Platform allows how organizations and individuals shop for, enroll in, manage and exchange benefits. The Company operates through two business segments: Employer, which derives its revenue from customers that use the Company’s services for the provision of benefits to their employees, and administrators acting on behalf of employers, Carrier, which derives its revenue from insurance companies that provide coverage at their own risk. Its solutions support benefits plans, including healthcare, dental, life and disability insurance, and voluntary benefits plans, such as critical illness, supplemental income and wellness programs. It provides a multi-tenant cloud-based benefits management platform to the employer and carrier markets.
RingCentral Company Profile
RingCentral, Inc. is a provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for businesses to support modern communications. The Company’s cloud-based business communications solutions provide a single user identity across multiple locations and devices, including smartphones, tablets, personal computers (PCs) and desk phones, and allow for communication across multiple channels, including high definition (HD) voice, video, short messaging service (SMS), messaging and collaboration, conferencing, online meetings, and fax. The Company’s products include RingCentral Office, RingCentral Professional, RingCentral Fax, RingCentral Contact Center and RingCentral Glip. RingCentral Office is a multi-user, enterprise-grade communications solution. RingCentral Professional is an inbound call routing subscription with additional text and fax capabilities targeting smaller deployments, and RingCentral Fax is an Internet fax subscription that permits sending and receiving faxes over the Internet.
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