Contrasting Materialise (NASDAQ:MTLS) and Snap (NYSE:SNAP)

Materialise (NASDAQ:MTLS) and Snap (NYSE:SNAP) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Materialise and Snap, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Materialise	0	2	1	0	2.33
Snap	2	25	8	1	2.22

Materialise currently has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 49.48%. Snap has a consensus target price of $7.48, suggesting a potential upside of 59.53%. Given Snap’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Snap is more favorable than Materialise.

Profitability

This table compares Materialise and Snap’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Materialise	3.77%	4.05%	2.47%
Snap	-6.72%	-18.92%	-5.44%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Materialise and Snap”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Materialise	$302.73 million	1.31	$8.73 million	$0.20	33.45
Snap	$5.93 billion	1.34	-$460.49 million	($0.24)	-19.54

Materialise has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Snap. Snap is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Materialise, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Materialise has a beta of 1.32, meaning that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Snap has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

19.3% of Materialise shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.5% of Snap shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Materialise shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.7% of Snap shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Materialise beats Snap on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Materialise

Materialise NV provides additive manufacturing and medical software, and 3D printing services in the Americas, Europe and Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates through three segments: Materialise Software, Materialise Medical, and Materialise Manufacturing. The Materialise Software segment offers software through programs and platforms that enable and enhance the functionality of 3D printers and of 3D printing operations. Its software interfaces between various types of 3D printers; and various software applications and capturing technologies, including computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing packages and 3D scanners. This segment serves 3D printing machine manufacturers; production companies and contract manufacturers in automotive, aerospace, consumer goods, and hearing aid industries; and 3D printing service bureaus through its sales force, Website, and third party distributors. The Materialise Medical segment provides medical software that allows medical-image based analysis, planning, and engineering, as well as patient-specific design and printing of surgical devices and implants. It serves medical device companies, hospitals, universities, research institutes, and industrial companies through its direct sales force, Website, and picture archiving and communication system. The Materialise Manufacturing segment provides 3D printing services, design and engineering services, and rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing of production parts to industrial and commercial customers. The company has collaboration agreements with Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.; Encore Medical, L.P.; DePuy Synthes Companies of Johnson & Johnson; Limacorporate Spa; Mathys AG; Corin Ltd; Smith & Nephew Inc.; Corin Ltd; Medtronic Inc.; and Abbott Laboratories Inc. Materialise NV was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium.

About Snap

Snap Inc. operates as a technology company in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers Snapchat, a visual messaging application with various tabs, such as camera, visual messaging, snap map, stories, and spotlight that enable people to communicate visually through short videos and images. It also provides Spectacles, an eyewear product that connects with Snapchat and captures photos and video from a human perspective; and advertising products, including AR ads and Snap ads comprises a single image or video ads, collection ads, dynamic ads, story ads, and commercials. The company was formerly known as Snapchat, Inc. and changed its name to Snap Inc. in September 2016. Snap Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.