i3 Verticals (NASDAQ:IIIV) & Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE) Head to Head Contrast

i3 Verticals (NASDAQ:IIIV) and Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for i3 Verticals and Aware, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
i3 Verticals	1	3	3	0	2.29
Aware	1	0	0	0	1.00

i3 Verticals presently has a consensus price target of $25.40, suggesting a potential upside of 58.95%. Given i3 Verticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe i3 Verticals is more favorable than Aware.

Risk & Volatility

i3 Verticals has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aware has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.2% of i3 Verticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.4% of Aware shares are held by institutional investors. 60.1% of i3 Verticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 34.3% of Aware shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares i3 Verticals and Aware’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
i3 Verticals	4.24%	4.49%	3.31%
Aware	-51.92%	-35.21%	-24.33%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares i3 Verticals and Aware”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
i3 Verticals	$218.16 million	1.93	$17.87 million	$0.38	42.05
Aware	$17.29 million	1.31	-$5.87 million	($0.40)	-2.60

i3 Verticals has higher revenue and earnings than Aware. Aware is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than i3 Verticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

i3 Verticals beats Aware on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About i3 Verticals

i3 Verticals, Inc. provides integrated payment and software solutions primarily to the public sector and healthcare markets in the United States. It operates in two segments, Software and Services, and Merchant Services. The company offers payment processing services that enables upper and lower court case management, collections, finance and accounting, motor vehicle and carrier registration, e-filing and taxation, license plate inventory, property tax management, utility billing, professional licensing, document workflow, and law enforcement software; assists public schools in completing payment processing functions, including accepting payments for online or at school lunches, and school activities. It also provides software platforms, such as electronic healthcare records and revenue cycle management solutions; insurance adjudication, patient engagement platforms, billing, scheduling, and integrated payments solutions; and workflow software and associated professional services to medical insurance payers. In addition, the company engages in software licenses and subscriptions, transaction-based fees, ongoing software maintenance and support, and other software-related solutions; and payment processing and gateway fees, as well as other related fixed transaction or service fees. Further, it sells equipment, and offers non-software related professional services. The company offers its solutions to clients through direct sales force; distribution partners comprising independent software vendors, independent sales organizations, and value-added resellers. i3 Verticals, Inc. was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

About Aware

Aware, Inc., an authentication company, provides biometrics software products and solutions for government agencies and commercial entities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers biometric software solution, including Knomi, a mobile biometric framework which provides multiple biometric modality options; AwareABIS, an automated biometric identification system used for large-scale biometric identification and deduplication; AFIX suite used for small-scale law enforcement focused biometric identification; and AFIX Tracker for fingerprint, palmprint, and latent print identification, as well as AFIX Face, AFIX Verifier, AFIX Identifier, AFIX Comparator, AFIX Engine, and AFIX NIST Transaction Engine. It also provides BioSP, a biometric integration platform-as-a-service that enables biometric data processing and management functionality in a web services architecture; WebEnroll, a browser-based biometric enrollment and data management solution; and AwareID, a software-as-a-service that provides identity verification and continuous authentication capabilities. In addition, the company offers biometrics applications, such as Nexa line, a biometric search and match SDKs including Nexa Fingerprint, Nexa Face, Nexa Iris, and Nexa Voice; and AwareXM, an interoperable fingerprint matching SDK that provides fingerprint minutiae extraction, template generation, and fingerprint authentication. Further, it sells imaging products used in medical and advanced imaging application; and offers software maintenance, program management, and software engineering services. The company sells its products, services, and solutions through systems integrators, direct, and original equipment manufacturers and value added resellers channel. Aware, Inc. was incorporated in 1986 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.