LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN – Get Free Report) and Twilio (NYSE:TWLO – Get Free Report) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.
Profitability
This table compares LivePerson and Twilio’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| LivePerson | -18.72% | -111.48% | -6.78% |
| Twilio | -2.45% | 1.38% | 1.14% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
79.8% of LivePerson shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.3% of Twilio shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.0% of LivePerson shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Twilio shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation & Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| LivePerson | $292.03 million | 0.25 | -$100.43 million | ($2.16) | -0.36 |
| Twilio | $4.58 billion | 3.91 | -$109.40 million | ($0.21) | -559.19 |
LivePerson has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Twilio. Twilio is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LivePerson, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for LivePerson and Twilio, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| LivePerson | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.67 |
| Twilio | 1 | 7 | 15 | 1 | 2.67 |
LivePerson currently has a consensus target price of $1.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.58%. Twilio has a consensus target price of $124.41, indicating a potential upside of 5.94%. Given LivePerson’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe LivePerson is more favorable than Twilio.
Volatility and Risk
LivePerson has a beta of 1.75, indicating that its share price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Twilio has a beta of 1.44, indicating that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Twilio beats LivePerson on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
About Twilio
Twilio Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides customer engagement platform solutions in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Twilio Communications and Twilio Segment. The company provides various application programming interfaces and software solutions for communications between customers and end users, including messaging, voice, email, flex, marketing campaigns, and user identity and authentication. It also offers software products to build direct, personalized relationships with their end users, such as segment, a platform that provides tools for first-party data by unifying real-time information collected; and engage, an automation platform for the delivery of omnichannel campaigns. Twilio Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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