Head-To-Head Analysis: Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) & Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX)

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) and Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Seagate Technology and Quantum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Seagate Technology	31.86%	252.47%	47.79%
Quantum	-73.54%	-3.52%	2.90%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.9% of Seagate Technology shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.7% of Quantum shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Seagate Technology shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 41.0% of Quantum shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Seagate Technology and Quantum”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Seagate Technology	$12.20 billion	10.13	$3.18 billion	$19.04	28.27
Quantum	$323.01 million	2.04	-$101.05 million	($10.89)	-1.53

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

Risk and Volatility

Seagate Technology has a beta of 2.16, suggesting that its share price is 116% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Quantum has a beta of 3.23, suggesting that its share price is 223% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Seagate Technology and Quantum, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Seagate Technology	0	5	23	0	2.82
Quantum	1	0	5	0	2.67

Seagate Technology presently has a consensus price target of $1,000.88, suggesting a potential upside of 85.93%. Quantum has a consensus price target of $28.33, suggesting a potential upside of 69.62%. Given Seagate Technology’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Seagate Technology is more favorable than Quantum.

Summary

Seagate Technology beats Quantum on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology develops and supplies data-storage products and solutions for businesses and consumers. Its portfolio includes hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives, and storage systems designed for applications ranging from personal computing to large-scale data centers. The company’s products support cloud and enterprise storage, network-attached storage, video surveillance, gaming, and other uses that require digital data to be stored and accessed. Seagate also offers data-management and storage services through its Lyve platform.

About Quantum

Quantum Corporation provides data storage and management solutions for organizations that create and retain large volumes of unstructured data, including video, images and other digital content. Its customers include businesses and institutions in areas such as media and entertainment, government, life sciences and industrial markets. The company’s offerings include StorNext shared-storage and data-management software, Scalar tape libraries for backup and archiving, and ActiveScale object storage.