Analyzing Acuity (NYSE:AYI) and Brand Engagement Network (NASDAQ:BNAI)

Acuity (NYSE:AYI) and Brand Engagement Network (NASDAQ:BNAI) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Acuity and Brand Engagement Network”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Acuity	$4.35 billion	2.02	$396.60 million	$13.64	21.26
Brand Engagement Network	$280,000.00	628.28	-$8.62 million	($6.50)	-4.62

Acuity has higher revenue and earnings than Brand Engagement Network. Brand Engagement Network is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acuity, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Acuity has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brand Engagement Network has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.2% of Acuity shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.8% of Brand Engagement Network shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of Acuity shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 25.6% of Brand Engagement Network 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Acuity and Brand Engagement Network, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acuity	0	4	5	0	2.56
Brand Engagement Network	1	0	0	0	1.00

Acuity presently has a consensus target price of $369.17, suggesting a potential upside of 27.29%. Given Acuity’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Acuity is more favorable than Brand Engagement Network.

Profitability

This table compares Acuity and Brand Engagement Network’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acuity	9.37%	20.74%	12.20%
Brand Engagement Network	-3,137.73%	-308.17%	-73.77%

Summary

Acuity beats Brand Engagement Network on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Acuity

Acuity Brands, Inc. provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch. This segment serves electrical distributors, retail home improvement centers, electric utilities, national accounts, original equipment manufacturers, digital retailers, lighting showrooms, and energy service companies. The ISG segment offers building management solutions, such as products for controlling heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, shades, refrigeration, and building access that deliver end-to-end optimization of those building systems; and building management software that enhances building system management and automates labor intensive tasks. This segment serves system integrators, as well as retail stores, airports, and enterprise campuses. The company offers its products and solutions under the Atrius, Distech Controls, and KE2 Therm Solutions brands. Acuity Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Brand Engagement Network

Brand Engagement Network, Inc. provides conversational AI assistants. The company offers security-focused, multimodal communication, and human-like assistants. Its AI assistants are built on proprietary natural language processing, anomaly detection, multisensory awareness, sentiment, and environmental analysis, as well as real-time individuation and personalization capabilities. It serves the automotive, healthcare, and other industries through direct sales force and channel partners. Brand Engagement Network, Inc. was formerly known as Blockchain Exchange Network Inc. and changed its name to Brand Engagement Network, Inc. in April 2023. The company was founded in 2018 and is based in Jackson, Wyoming.