Contrasting Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) & Evolv Technologies (NASDAQ:EVLV)

Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) and Evolv Technologies (NASDAQ:EVLV) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Stratasys and Evolv Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stratasys	-7.05%	-2.02%	-1.52%
Evolv Technologies	-187.36%	-45.24%	-28.93%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

72.7% of Stratasys shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.2% of Evolv Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.3% of Stratasys shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.7% of Evolv Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Stratasys has a beta of 1.45, suggesting that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Evolv Technologies has a beta of 1.45, suggesting that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Stratasys and Evolv Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stratasys	0	0	1	0	3.00
Evolv Technologies	0	1	2	0	2.67

Stratasys presently has a consensus target price of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 84.33%. Evolv Technologies has a consensus target price of $7.87, suggesting a potential upside of 87.30%. Given Evolv Technologies’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Evolv Technologies is more favorable than Stratasys.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Stratasys and Evolv Technologies’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stratasys	$651.48 million	1.14	-$28.97 million	($0.65)	-16.69
Evolv Technologies	$55.19 million	11.41	-$86.41 million	($0.97)	-4.33

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

Summary

Stratasys beats Evolv Technologies on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Stratasys

Stratasys Ltd. provides connected polymer-based 3D printing solutions. It offers range of 3D printing systems, which includes polyjet printer, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, stereolithography printing systems, origin P3 printers, and SAF printer for manufacturing, tooling and rapid prototyping, and various vertical markets, such as automotive, aerospace, consumer products and healthcare. The company provides consumable materials including 3D printing materials comprising FDM, polyjet, and stereolithography materials for manufacturing applications, such as jigs and fixtures, investment casting, and injection mold or composite tooling applications. In addition, it offers software and services, which includes cloud, desktop and mobile technologies comprising GrabCAD, an additive manufacturing platform to manage production-scale operations; and GrabCAD Print, job programming software enables the unique features of 3D printing technologies, such as creating lightweight, structurally sound infills for FDM, and multi-material and color and material management for polyjet. The company also provides GrabCAD Shop including scheduling, remote monitoring, and analytics; GrabCAD Connect provides two-way SDK integration for third-party software applications; and GrabCAD Community, an online community of professional engineers, designers, manufacturers and students who share their practices through tutorials, discussion forums, design/print challenges, and 3D content. Further, it offers GrabCAD Streamline Shop, which simplifies 3D printing shop workflow; GrabCAD Streamline Software Development Kit (SDK) to support enterprise goals such as system connectivity, compliance, and workflow automation; and Grab CAD Software Partner program for independent software vendors. The company sells its products through a network of resellers and independent sales agents worldwide. Stratasys Ltd. is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

About Evolv Technologies

Evolv Technologies Holdings, Inc. provides artificial intelligence (AI)-based weapons detection for security screening. Its products include Evolv Express, a touchless security screening system designed to detect firearms, improvised explosive devices, and tactical knives; and Evolv Insights that provides self-serve access, insights regarding visitor flow and arrival curves, location specific performance, system detection performance, and alarm statistics. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.