Calix (NYSE:CALX) vs. Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Head to Head Contrast

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) and Calix (NYSE:CALX) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cisco Systems and Calix, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cisco Systems	0	7	15	1	2.74
Calix	1	1	7	0	2.67

Cisco Systems presently has a consensus target price of $129.43, suggesting a potential upside of 15.89%. Calix has a consensus target price of $63.86, suggesting a potential upside of 61.35%. Given Calix’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Calix is more favorable than Cisco Systems.

Profitability

This table compares Cisco Systems and Calix’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cisco Systems	20.95%	30.16%	11.69%
Calix	4.61%	6.17%	4.90%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

73.3% of Cisco Systems shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.1% of Calix shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Cisco Systems shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.4% of Calix shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Cisco Systems has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Calix has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cisco Systems and Calix”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cisco Systems	$63.33 billion	6.95	$10.18 billion	$3.34	33.44
Calix	$1.11 billion	2.24	$17.88 million	$0.74	53.48

Cisco Systems has higher revenue and earnings than Calix. Cisco Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Calix, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Cisco Systems beats Calix on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization. In addition, it provides Internet for the future product consists of routed optical networking, 5G, silicon, and optics solutions; collaboration products, such as meetings, collaboration devices, calling, contact center, and communication platform as a service; end-to-end security product consists of network security, cloud security, security endpoints, unified threat management, and zero trust; and optimized application experiences products including full stack observability and network assurance. Further, the company offers a range of service and support options for its customers, including technical support and advanced services and advisory services. It serves businesses of various sizes, public institutions, governments, and service providers. The company sells its products and services directly, as well as through systems integrators, service providers, other resellers, and distributors. Cisco Systems, Inc. has strategic alliances with other companies. Cisco Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Calix

Calix, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of cloud and software platforms, and systems and services in the United States, rest of Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Its cloud and software platforms, and systems and services enable broadband service providers (BSPs) to provide a range of services. The company provides Calix Cloud platform, a role-based analytics platform comprising Calix Engagement Cloud, Calix Service Cloud, and Calix Operations Cloud, which are configurable to display role-based insights and enable BSPs to anticipate and target new revenue-generating services and applications through mobile application, such as CommandIQ for residents and CommandWorx for businesses; Calix Intelligent Access EDGE, an access network solution for automated and intelligent networks; and Calix Revenue EDGE, a premises solution for subscriber managed services. It also offers SmartLife managed services, including SmartHome managed services and applications to enhance, operate and secure the connected experience of subscribers in their home; SmartTown managed services that reimagine community Wi-Fi as a ubiquitous, secure, and managed experience across a BSP's footprint; and SmartBiz managed services that address the business networking and productivity needs of business owners with an all-in-one managed service. In addition, the company provides Wi-Fi systems under GigaSpire and GigaPro brands to be ready for deployment as a complete subscriber experience solution for BSP's residential and business subscribers. It offers its products through its direct sales force and resellers. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.