Paylocity (PCTY) Competitors

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) and Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) are both large-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, community ranking, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Which has more volatility and risk, EA or PCTY?

Electronic Arts has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Paylocity has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor EA or PCTY?

Electronic Arts received 998 more outperform votes than Paylocity when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.51% of users gave Electronic Arts an outperform vote while only 67.71% of users gave Paylocity an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Electronic Arts	Outperform Votes 1558 74.51%	Underperform Votes 533 25.49%
Paylocity	Outperform Votes 560 67.71%	Underperform Votes 267 32.29%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, EA or PCTY?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Electronic Arts	$7.41B	5.23	$1.27B	$3.89	37.99
Paylocity	$1.36B	8.09	$206.77M	$3.91	50.34

Do analysts rate EA or PCTY?

Electronic Arts presently has a consensus price target of $165.37, suggesting a potential upside of 11.89%. Paylocity has a consensus price target of $205.71, suggesting a potential upside of 4.51%. Given Electronic Arts' higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Electronic Arts is more favorable than Paylocity.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Electronic Arts	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.65
Paylocity	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.79

Is EA or PCTY more profitable?

Paylocity has a net margin of 15.32% compared to Electronic Arts' net margin of 14.12%. Paylocity's return on equity of 22.92% beat Electronic Arts' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Electronic Arts	14.12%	18.56%	10.48%
Paylocity	15.32%	22.92%	5.47%

Does the media refer more to EA or PCTY?

In the previous week, Electronic Arts had 7 more articles in the media than Paylocity. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Electronic Arts and 17 mentions for Paylocity. Paylocity's average media sentiment score of 0.60 beat Electronic Arts' score of 0.57 indicating that Paylocity is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Electronic Arts	9 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Paylocity	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of EA or PCTY?

90.2% of Electronic Arts shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.8% of Paylocity shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Electronic Arts shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.9% of Paylocity shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Paylocity beats Electronic Arts on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.