Comparing Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) & Coursera (NYSE:COUR)

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) and Coursera (NYSE:COUR) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Appian and Coursera, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Appian	1	2	5	0	2.50
Coursera	1	2	8	0	2.64

Appian presently has a consensus target price of $48.86, indicating a potential upside of 40.15%. Coursera has a consensus target price of $22.10, indicating a potential upside of 85.71%. Given Coursera’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Coursera is more favorable than Appian.

Volatility and Risk

Appian has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Coursera has a beta of 1.48, indicating that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

52.7% of Appian shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.6% of Coursera shares are owned by institutional investors. 43.6% of Appian shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 16.3% of Coursera shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Appian and Coursera’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Appian	$545.36 million	4.69	-$111.44 million	($1.53)	-22.78
Coursera	$635.76 million	2.94	-$116.55 million	($0.77)	-15.45

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

Profitability

This table compares Appian and Coursera’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Appian	-20.43%	-127.40%	-16.30%
Coursera	-18.33%	-18.15%	-12.39%

Summary

Coursera beats Appian on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Appian

Appian Corporation, a software company that provides low-code design platform in the United States, Mexico, Portugal, and internationally. The company's platform offers artificial intelligence, process automation, data fabric, and process mining. It provides The Appian Platform, an integrated automation platform that enables organizations to design, automate, and optimize mission-critical business processes. The company also offers professional and customer support services. It serves to financial services, government, life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, telecommunications, and transportation industries. Appian Corporation was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

About Coursera

Coursera, Inc. operates an online educational content platform in the United States, Europe, Africa, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Consumer, Enterprise, and Degrees. The company offers guided projects, courses, and specializations, as well as online degrees; and certificates for entry-level professional, non-entry level professional, university, and MasterTrack. It offers its products to individuals, enterprise, business, campus, and government. The company was formerly known as Dkandu, Inc. and changed its name to Coursera, Inc. in April 2012. Coursera, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.