Analyzing Creative Realities (NASDAQ:CREX) and BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL)

Creative Realities (NASDAQ:CREX) and BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Creative Realities and BlackLine, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Creative Realities	1	0	1	0	2.00
BlackLine	2	7	5	0	2.21

Creative Realities presently has a consensus price target of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 114.29%. BlackLine has a consensus price target of $60.58, suggesting a potential upside of 21.60%. Given Creative Realities’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Creative Realities is more favorable than BlackLine.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

41.3% of Creative Realities shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.1% of BlackLine shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.7% of Creative Realities shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.6% of BlackLine shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Creative Realities has a beta of 1.49, indicating that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BlackLine has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Creative Realities and BlackLine’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Creative Realities	-2.56%	2.38%	1.02%
BlackLine	13.05%	15.95%	3.70%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Creative Realities and BlackLine”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Creative Realities	$50.85 million	0.58	-$3.51 million	($0.11)	-25.45
BlackLine	$653.34 million	4.72	$165.81 million	$1.29	38.62

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

Summary

BlackLine beats Creative Realities on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Creative Realities

Creative Realities, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides digital marketing technology and solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers digital signage and media solutions to enhance communications in a wide-ranging variety of out-of-home environments. The company’s solutions include digital merchandising systems and omni-channel customer engagement systems; interactive digital shopping assistants; advisors and kiosks; and other interactive marketing technologies, such as mobile, social media, point-of-sale transactions, beaconing, and web-based media that enables its customers to engage with their consumers. It also provides hardware system design/engineering, hardware installation, content development, content scheduling, post-deployment network and field support, and media sales, as well as media management and distribution software platforms and networks; device and product management; and customized software service layers, systems, experiences, workflows, and integrated solutions. The company sells its solutions to the automotive, retail, digital out of home comprising advertising networks and retail media networks, foodservice/quick-serve restaurants, financial services, gaming, and sports and entertainment venues. Creative Realities, Inc. is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

About BlackLine

BlackLine, Inc. operates a cloud-based software platform which is designed to transform accounting and finance operations for organizations of all types and sizes. Its scalable platform supports critical accounting processes such as the financial close, account reconciliations, intercompany accounting, and controls assurance. The company was founded by Therese Tucker in May 2001 and is headquartered in Woodland Hills, CA.