Vertex (VERX) Competitors

Vertex (NASDAQ:VERX) and Altair Engineering (NASDAQ:ALTR) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, risk, profitability, community ranking, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Which has more volatility & risk, VERX or ALTR?

Vertex has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Altair Engineering has a beta of 1.44, meaning that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate VERX or ALTR?

Vertex currently has a consensus price target of $52.30, indicating a potential upside of 6.52%. Altair Engineering has a consensus price target of $100.71, indicating a potential downside of 2.93%. Given Vertex's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vertex is more favorable than Altair Engineering.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vertex	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.82
Altair Engineering	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is VERX or ALTR more profitable?

Altair Engineering has a net margin of 5.10% compared to Vertex's net margin of 4.73%. Vertex's return on equity of 24.92% beat Altair Engineering's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vertex	4.73%	24.92%	6.65%
Altair Engineering	5.10%	7.49%	4.26%

Does the media prefer VERX or ALTR?

In the previous week, Vertex had 4 more articles in the media than Altair Engineering. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Vertex and 12 mentions for Altair Engineering. Altair Engineering's average media sentiment score of 0.86 beat Vertex's score of 0.51 indicating that Altair Engineering is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Vertex	5 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Altair Engineering	4 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in VERX or ALTR?

59.1% of Vertex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.4% of Altair Engineering shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.6% of Vertex shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.8% of Altair Engineering shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in VERX or ALTR?

Altair Engineering received 525 more outperform votes than Vertex when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.11% of users gave Altair Engineering an outperform vote while only 46.07% of users gave Vertex an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Vertex	Outperform Votes 41 46.07%	Underperform Votes 48 53.93%
Altair Engineering	Outperform Votes 566 58.11%	Underperform Votes 408 41.89%

Which has better valuation & earnings, VERX or ALTR?

Altair Engineering has higher revenue and earnings than Vertex. Vertex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Altair Engineering, 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
Vertex	$572.39M	13.34	-$13.09M	$0.18	272.78
Altair Engineering	$612.70M	14.41	-$8.93M	$0.38	273.03

Summary

Altair Engineering beats Vertex on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.