ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) versus SMS Alternatives (OTCMKTS:CICN) Head-To-Head Review

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) and SMS Alternatives (OTCMKTS:CICN) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for ACI Worldwide and SMS Alternatives, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ACI Worldwide	0	0	3	0	3.00
SMS Alternatives	0	0	0	0	0.00

ACI Worldwide currently has a consensus price target of $60.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.87%. Given ACI Worldwide’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe ACI Worldwide is more favorable than SMS Alternatives.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares ACI Worldwide and SMS Alternatives”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ACI Worldwide	$1.70 billion	2.83	$203.12 million	$2.37	19.65
SMS Alternatives	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

ACI Worldwide has higher revenue and earnings than SMS Alternatives.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

94.7% of ACI Worldwide shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of ACI Worldwide shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 89.0% of SMS Alternatives shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares ACI Worldwide and SMS Alternatives’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ACI Worldwide	14.76%	19.09%	8.63%
SMS Alternatives	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

ACI Worldwide beats SMS Alternatives on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ACI Worldwide

ACI Worldwide, Inc., a software company, develops, markets, installs, and supports a range of software products and solutions for facilitating digital payments in the United States and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Banks, Merchants, and Billers. The company offers ACI Acquiring, a solution to process credit, debit, and prepaid card transactions, deliver digital innovation, and fraud prevention; ACI Issuing, a digital payment issuing solution for new payment offering; and ACI Enterprise Payments Platform that provides payment processing and orchestration capabilities for digital payments. It also provides ACI Low Value Real-Time Payments, a platform for processing real-time payments; and ACI High Value Real-Time Payments, a payments engine that offers multi-bank, multi-currency, 24×7 payment processing, and SWIFT messaging. In addition, the company offers ACI Payments Orchestration Platform for optimizing payments; omni-channel payment platform; ACI Fraud Management, a real-time approach to fraud management; and ACI Speedpay, an integrated suite of digital billing, payment, disbursement, and communication services. The company offers electronic bill presentment and payment services to consumer finance, insurance, healthcare, higher education, utility, government, telecommunications, and mortgage sectors; implementation services, include product installations and configurations, and custom software modifications; and business and technical consultancy, on-site support, product education, and testing services, as well as distributes or acts as a sales agent for software developed by third parties. It markets its products under the ACI Worldwide brand. The company was formerly known as Transaction Systems Architects, Inc. and changed its name to ACI Worldwide, Inc. in July 2007. The company was founded in 1975 and is based in Elkhorn, Nebraska.

About SMS Alternatives

SMS Alternatives Inc. provides business integration software solutions in the United States and Europe. The company's software enables organizations to integrate new and existing information and processes at the desktop; and addresses the need for a company's information systems to deliver enterprise-wide views of their business information processes. It offers Cicero Discovery, a configurable tool to collect activity and application performance data, and track business objects across time and multiple users, as well as measure against a defined expected business process flow; and Cicero Insight, a measurement and analytics solution that collects and presents information about quality, productivity, compliance, and revenue from frontline activity to target areas for improvement. The company also provides Cicero Automation that delivers features of the Cicero Discovery product, as well as desktop automation for enterprise contact center and back office employees; integrates applications and automates workflow; and control and adaptability at the end user desktop. In addition, it offers technical support, training, and consulting services. The company sells its products and services directly, as well as through distributors and other intermediaries who resell it to end-users. It serves financial services, insurance, and telecommunications industries; and business process outsourcers, as well as intelligence, security, law enforcement, and other governmental organizations. The company was formerly known as Cicero Inc. and changed its name to SMS Alternatives Inc. in June 2023. SMS Alternatives Inc. was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina.