Versant (VSNT) & Its Rivals Critical Comparison

Versant (NASDAQ:VSNT) is one of 259 publicly-traded companies in the “Media” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Versant to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Dividends

Versant pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Versant pays out 43.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Media” companies pay a dividend yield of 5.1% and pay out 128.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Versant and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Versant	$6.60 billion	$930.00 million	10.99
Versant Competitors	$3.01 billion	-$7.90 million	17.30

Versant has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Versant is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Versant and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Versant	0	7	1	0	2.12
Versant Competitors	2244	6865	10821	475	2.47

Versant currently has a consensus price target of $43.20, indicating a potential upside of 12.94%. As a group, “Media” companies have a potential upside of 25.13%. Given Versant’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Versant has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

38.4% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Versant shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.0% of shares of all “Media” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Versant and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Versant	N/A	N/A	N/A
Versant Competitors	-20.09%	-48.62%	-5.13%

Summary

Versant competitors beat Versant on 8 of the 14 factors compared.

Versant Company Profile

Versant Corporation is a provider of data management software. The Company designs, develops, markets and supports database management system products that companies use to solve data management and data integration issues. It also provides related product support, training and consulting services to assist users of the Company’s products in developing and deploying software applications based on its products. The Company’s Versant Object Database product is used primarily by enterprises, which have data management requirements, such as technology providers, telecommunications carriers, Government defense agencies, defense contractors, healthcare companies and companies in the financial services and transportation industries. In addition to its product offerings, to assist users in their development and deployment of applications based on the Versant Object Database, FastObjects and db4o, it offers related professional services.