Head-To-Head Contrast: Appian (APPN) versus Its Competitors

Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) is one of 953 public companies in the “Software” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Appian to similar businesses based on the strength of its dividends, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

Appian has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Appian’s peers have a beta of 1.34, meaning that their average share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Appian and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Appian	$842.93 million	$1.23 million	-645.00
Appian Competitors	$1.80 billion	$385.92 million	108.64

Appian’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Appian. Appian is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Appian and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Appian	-0.72%	-47.34%	5.26%
Appian Competitors	-612.66%	21.01%	-8.93%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

52.7% of Appian shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.8% of shares of all “Software” companies are held by institutional investors. 42.8% of Appian shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.9% of shares of all “Software” companies are held 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Appian and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Appian	2	4	2	0	2.00
Appian Competitors	5748	21526	44879	1497	2.57

Appian currently has a consensus target price of $44.33, indicating a potential downside of 14.08%. As a group, “Software” companies have a potential upside of 28.94%. Given Appian’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Appian has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

Appian peers beat Appian on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

Appian Company Profile

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.