Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) & Data Storage (NASDAQ:DTST) Critical Survey

Data Storage (NASDAQ:DTST) and Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

11.6% of Data Storage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.3% of Akamai Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 43.8% of Data Storage shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Akamai Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Data Storage and Akamai Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Data Storage	1	2	0	0	1.67
Akamai Technologies	3	7	12	0	2.41

Akamai Technologies has a consensus target price of $145.29, suggesting a potential downside of 1.32%. Given Akamai Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Akamai Technologies is more favorable than Data Storage.

Risk and Volatility

Data Storage has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Akamai Technologies has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Data Storage and Akamai Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Data Storage	81.52%	-3.76%	-3.32%
Akamai Technologies	10.20%	12.96%	5.56%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Data Storage and Akamai Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Data Storage	$1.38 million	5.93	$19.20 million	($0.33)	-11.42
Akamai Technologies	$4.21 billion	5.09	$452.03 million	$2.97	49.57

Akamai Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Data Storage. Data Storage is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Akamai Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Akamai Technologies beats Data Storage on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Data Storage

Data Storage Corporation provides data management and cloud solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers a suite of multi-cloud IT solutions, including cyber security solutions, which comprise ezSecurity, a security solution for endpoint security, system assessments, and risk analysis, as well as IBM system protection, including Ransomware defense. The company also provides data protection and recovery solutions, such as ezVault for offsite data protection; ezRecovery for fast data recovery; ezAvailability for real-time data replication with minimal recovery objectives; and ezMirror for data mirroring at the storage level. In addition, it offers cloud hosted production systems comprising ezHost, which delivers managed cloud services; and voice and data solutions, including Nexxis, which specializes in voice over internet protocol, internet access, and data transport solutions, which comprise dedicated internet services, SD-WAN options, and a cloud-based PBX solution. The company offers its solutions and services to businesses in healthcare, banking and finance, distribution services, manufacturing, construction, education, and government industries. Data Storage Corporation was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.

About Akamai Technologies

Akamai Technologies, Inc. provides cloud computing, security, and content delivery services in the United States and internationally. The company offers cloud solutions to keep infrastructure, websites, applications, application programming interfaces, and users safe from various cyberattacks and online threats while enhancing performance. It also provides web and mobile performance solutions to enable dynamic websites and applications; media delivery solutions, including video streaming and video player services, game and software delivery, broadcast operations, authoritative domain name system, resolution, and data and analytics; and cloud computing services, such as compute, storage, networking, database, and container management services to build, deploy, and secure applications and workloads. In addition, the company offers content delivery solutions; and an array of service and support to assist customers with integrating, configuring, optimizing, and managing its offerings. It sells its solutions through various channel partners. Akamai Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.