Contrasting CLEAR Secure (NYSE:YOU) and N-able (NYSE:NABL)

N-able (NYSE:NABL) and CLEAR Secure (NYSE:YOU) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and risk.

Risk & Volatility

N-able has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CLEAR Secure has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares N-able and CLEAR Secure”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
N-able	$511.43 million	1.89	-$18.82 million	($0.02)	-256.25
CLEAR Secure	$900.78 million	6.82	$109.17 million	$1.47	30.91

CLEAR Secure has higher revenue and earnings than N-able. N-able is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CLEAR Secure, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares N-able and CLEAR Secure’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
N-able	-0.88%	3.55%	2.04%
CLEAR Secure	14.78%	71.51%	10.90%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.3% of N-able shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.8% of CLEAR Secure shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of N-able shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.7% of CLEAR Secure shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for N-able and CLEAR Secure, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
N-able	2	4	2	0	2.00
CLEAR Secure	1	3	5	0	2.44

N-able presently has a consensus price target of $5.08, suggesting a potential downside of 0.88%. CLEAR Secure has a consensus price target of $58.29, suggesting a potential upside of 28.28%. Given CLEAR Secure’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CLEAR Secure is more favorable than N-able.

Summary

CLEAR Secure beats N-able on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About N-able

N-able, Inc. provides cloud-based software solutions for managed service providers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company's solutions enable MSPs to support digital transformation and growth within small and medium-sized enterprises. It provides software platform designed to be an integrated, enterprise-grade solution that serves as an operating system for its MSP partners and scales as their businesses grow. In addition, the company offers remote monitoring and management solutions provide MSP partners with visibility and insights into the availability and performance of their customers' networks, infrastructure, devices and applications through a centralized dashboard; data protection as-a-service solutions, such as backup and disaster recovery for servers, virtual machines, workstations, files, data, and key cloud-based applications, as well as multi-tenant platform and secure remote delivery architecture. Further, it offers security services through patch management, endpoint security, managed detection and response, web protection, e-mail security, and archiving and vulnerability assessment solutions. Additionally, the company engages in professional services automation, automation and scripting management, password management policies and reporting, and analytics. N-able, Inc. was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.

About CLEAR Secure

Clear Secure, Inc. operates a secure identity platform under the CLEAR brand name primarily in the United States. Its secure identity platform is a multi-layered infrastructure consisting of front-end, including enrollment, verification, and linking, as well as back-end. The company also offers CLEAR Plus, a consumer aviation subscription service, which enables access to predictable entry lanes in airport security checkpoints, as well as access to broader network; and CLEAR mobile app, which is used to enroll new members and improve the experience for existing members. In addition, it provides RESERVE powered by CLEAR, a virtual queuing technology that provides users with the ability to book a dedicated time slot to go through security at the airport; CLEAR Verified, a B2B offering that extends secure identity platform to partners to create friction-free experiences for their customers; TSA PreCheck Enrollment Provided by CLEAR, as well as online renewal services; Atlas Certified, an automated solution to verify professional licenses and certification data across industries; and Sora ID that enables adding know your customer services to platform offerings, as well as virtual queuing technology that enables customers to manage lines. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Clear Secure, Inc. is a subsidiary of Alclear Investments, Llc.