Head-To-Head Review: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) versus Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI)

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) and Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

VeriSign has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rigetti Computing has a beta of 1.41, indicating that its share price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.9% of VeriSign shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.4% of Rigetti Computing shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of VeriSign shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Rigetti Computing shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for VeriSign and Rigetti Computing, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
VeriSign	0	0	2	1	3.33
Rigetti Computing	0	0	5	0	3.00

VeriSign currently has a consensus target price of $267.50, indicating a potential downside of 4.38%. Rigetti Computing has a consensus target price of $14.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.14%. Given Rigetti Computing’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Rigetti Computing is more favorable than VeriSign.

Profitability

This table compares VeriSign and Rigetti Computing’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
VeriSign	50.47%	-43.01%	51.54%
Rigetti Computing	-509.58%	-51.56%	-37.78%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares VeriSign and Rigetti Computing”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
VeriSign	$1.58 billion	16.67	$785.70 million	$8.18	34.20
Rigetti Computing	$9.21 million	441.95	-$75.11 million	($0.70)	-20.03

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

Summary

VeriSign beats Rigetti Computing on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce. It operates directory for .name and .cc; and back-end systems for .edu, domain names. VeriSign, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

About Rigetti Computing

Rigetti Computing, Inc., through its subsidiaries, builds quantum computers and the superconducting quantum processors. The company offers cloud in a form of quantum processing unit, such as 9-qubit chip and Ankaa-2 system under the Novera brand name; and sells access to its quantum computers through quantum computing as a service. It also provides quantum cloud services that provides various range of support in programming, public or private clouds integration, and connectivity, as well as quantum operating system software that supports both public and private cloud architectures. In addition, the company offers professional services, such as algorithm development, benchmarking, quantum application programming, and software development. The company serves commercial enterprises, government organizations, and international government entities. It has operations in the United States and the United Kingdom. Rigetti Computing, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Berkeley, California.