Progress Software (NASDAQ:PRGS – Get Free Report) and BIO-key International (NASDAQ:BKYI – Get Free Report) are both small-cap technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.
Profitability
This table compares Progress Software and BIO-key International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Progress Software | 8.87% | 43.07% | 8.78% |
| BIO-key International | -50.01% | -67.31% | -40.28% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
26.5% of BIO-key International shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Progress Software shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.0% of BIO-key International shares are held by company 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.
Analyst Recommendations
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Progress Software | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2.71 |
| BIO-key International | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 |
Progress Software currently has a consensus target price of $52.17, indicating a potential upside of 30.68%. Given Progress Software’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Progress Software is more favorable than BIO-key International.
Volatility and Risk
Progress Software has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BIO-key International has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Progress Software and BIO-key International”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Progress Software | $977.83 million | 1.67 | $73.13 million | $2.06 | 19.38 |
| BIO-key International | $6.09 million | 0.63 | -$7.16 million | ($4.11) | -0.64 |
Progress Software has higher revenue and earnings than BIO-key International. BIO-key International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Progress Software, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Progress Software beats BIO-key International on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Progress Software
Progress Software Corporation develops, deploys, and manages business applications in the United States and internationally. The company offers OpenEdge, an application development platform for running business-critical applications; Chef, a DevOps/DevSecOps automation software; Developer Tools that consists of software development tooling collection, including .NET and JavaScript UI components for web, desktop and mobile applications, reporting and report management tools, and automated testing and mocking tools; Kemp LoadMaster, an application delivery and security product offering cloud-native, and virtual and hardware load balancers; and Sitefinity, a digital experience platform foundation delivering intelligent and ROI-driving tools for marketers. It also provides MOVEit, a managed file transfer software for managing and controlling the movement of sensitive files and securing them both at-rest and in-transit; DataDirect, a secure data connectivity tools for Relational, NoSQL, Big Data and SaaS data sources; WhatsUp Gold, a network infrastructure monitoring software providing complete visibility of all network devices, servers, virtual machines, and cloud and wireless environments to find and fix network problems; Flowmon, a network security and visibility product with automated response across hybrid cloud ecosystems; Corticon, a decision automation platform to transform user experiences by streamlining and automating complex business rules; MarkLogic, a data agility platform to connect data and metadata; and Semaphore, a Semantic AI platform. The company offers project management, implementation, custom software development, programming, and other services, as well as web-enable applications; and training services. It sells its products to end users, independent software vendors, original equipment manufacturers, system integrators, value added resellers, and distributors. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.
About BIO-key International
BIO-key International, Inc. develops and markets fingerprint identification biometric technology and software solutions, and enterprise-ready identity access management solutions for commercial, government, and education customers in the United States and internationally. The company offers BIO-key PortalGuard and PortalGuard IDaaS solutions, a customer-controlled and neutral-by-design cloud-based identity platform that allows customers to integrate with any cloud or on-premises SaaS application, as well as windows device authentication through IAM platform. Its solutions enable its customers to secure their workforces and student populations; and make their partner networks more collaborative. In addition, it provides BIO-key VST and WEB-key products; and Civil and Large-Scale ID Infrastructure solutions that develops finger-based biometric technology. Further, it offers finger scanners for enterprise and consumer markets under SideSwipe, EcoID, and SidePass brand names. The company was formerly known as SAC Technologies and changed its name to BIO-key International, Inc. in 2002. BIO-key International, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Wall, New Jersey.
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