Evolv Technologies (NASDAQ:EVLV) vs. Fair Isaac (NYSE:FICO) Critical Survey

Fair Isaac (NYSE:FICO) and Evolv Technologies (NASDAQ:EVLV) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fair Isaac	32.75%	-43.97%	32.68%
Evolv Technologies	-43.76%	-55.11%	-21.55%

Volatility & Risk

Fair Isaac has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Evolv Technologies has a beta of 1.85, indicating that its share price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

85.8% of Fair Isaac shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.7% of Evolv Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of Fair Isaac shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.3% of Evolv Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Fair Isaac and Evolv Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fair Isaac	$1.99 billion	20.90	$651.95 million	$26.55	66.09
Evolv Technologies	$103.86 million	11.38	-$54.02 million	($0.37)	-18.30

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Fair Isaac and Evolv Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fair Isaac	0	5	9	2	2.81
Evolv Technologies	1	1	4	1	2.71

Fair Isaac currently has a consensus price target of $2,076.77, indicating a potential upside of 18.35%. Evolv Technologies has a consensus price target of $9.13, indicating a potential upside of 34.79%. Given Evolv Technologies’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Evolv Technologies is more favorable than Fair Isaac.

Summary

Fair Isaac beats Evolv Technologies on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fair Isaac

Fair Isaac Corporation develops analytic, software, and digital decisioning technologies and services that enable businesses to automate, enhance, and connect decisions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Scores and Software. The Software segment provides pre-configured analytic and decision management solution designed for various business needs or processes, such as account origination, customer management, customer engagement, fraud detection, financial crimes compliance, and marketing, as well as associated professional services. This segment also offers FICO Platform, a modular software offering designed to support advanced analytic and decision use cases, as well as stand-alone analytic and decisioning software that can be configured by customers to address a wide range of business use cases. The Scores segment provides business-to-business scoring solutions and services for consumers that give clients access to predictive credit and other scores that can be integrated into their transaction streams and decision-making processes, as well as business-to-consumer scoring solutions comprising myFICO.com subscription offerings. It offers FICO Customer Analytics, FICO Responsible AI, FICO Advisors, FICO Business Outcome Simulator, FICO Forecaster, FICO TRIAD Customer Manager, FICO Blaze Advisor, FICO Xpress Optimization, FICO Falcon Fraud Manager, FICO Analytics Workbench, FICO Data Orchestrator, FICO DMP Streaming, FICO Decision Optimizer, and FICO Strategy Director, as well as software implementation and configuration services. The company markets its products and services primarily through its direct sales organization and indirect channels, as well as online. The company was formerly known as Fair Isaac & Company, Inc. and changed its name to Fair Isaac Corporation in July 1992. Fair Isaac Corporation was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana.

About Evolv Technologies

Evolv Technologies Holdings, Inc. provides artificial intelligence (AI)-based weapons detection for security screening in the United States and internationally. 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.