VeriSign (VRSN) Competitors

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) and SEA (NYSE:SE) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, community ranking, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings and profitability.

Is VRSN or SE more profitable?

VeriSign has a net margin of 50.47% compared to SEA's net margin of 0.64%. SEA's return on equity of 1.40% beat VeriSign's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
VeriSign	50.47%	-43.01%	51.54%
SEA	0.64%	1.40%	0.50%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of VRSN or SE?

92.9% of VeriSign shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.5% of SEA shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of VeriSign shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of SEA shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor VRSN or SE?

SEA received 108 more outperform votes than VeriSign when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.07% of users gave SEA an outperform vote while only 62.34% of users gave VeriSign an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
VeriSign	Outperform Votes 394 62.34%	Underperform Votes 238 37.66%
SEA	Outperform Votes 502 63.07%	Underperform Votes 294 36.93%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, VRSN or SE?

VeriSign has higher earnings, but lower revenue than SEA. VeriSign is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SEA, 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
VeriSign	$1.56B	14.21	$785.70M	$8.00	29.24
SEA	$15.49B	4.91	$150.73M	$0.15	884.99

Which has more volatility and risk, VRSN or SE?

VeriSign has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SEA has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its stock price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor VRSN or SE?

In the previous week, VeriSign had 4 more articles in the media than SEA. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for VeriSign and 15 mentions for SEA. VeriSign's average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat SEA's score of 0.80 indicating that VeriSign is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
VeriSign	14 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
SEA	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer VRSN or SE?

VeriSign presently has a consensus price target of $250.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.89%. SEA has a consensus price target of $91.21, suggesting a potential downside of 31.29%. Given VeriSign's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe VeriSign is more favorable than SEA.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
VeriSign	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.33
SEA	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.79

Summary

VeriSign beats SEA on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.