Reviewing Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) and GDS (NASDAQ:GDS)

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) and Cognizant Technology Solutions (NASDAQ:CTSH) are both technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for GDS and Cognizant Technology Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GDS	0	2	3	1	2.83
Cognizant Technology Solutions	1	13	10	0	2.38

GDS presently has a consensus price target of $48.12, indicating a potential upside of 42.57%. Cognizant Technology Solutions has a consensus price target of $63.65, indicating a potential upside of 8.47%. Given GDS’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe GDS is more favorable than Cognizant Technology Solutions.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

33.7% of GDS shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Cognizant Technology Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of GDS shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Cognizant Technology Solutions shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares GDS and Cognizant Technology Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GDS	30.70%	17.94%	6.11%
Cognizant Technology Solutions	10.26%	17.70%	12.81%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares GDS and Cognizant Technology Solutions”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GDS	$1.63 billion	4.14	$132.10 million	$2.15	15.70
Cognizant Technology Solutions	$21.11 billion	1.25	$2.23 billion	$4.65	12.62

Cognizant Technology Solutions has higher revenue and earnings than GDS. Cognizant Technology Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than GDS, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

GDS has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cognizant Technology Solutions has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

GDS beats Cognizant Technology Solutions on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GDS

GDS Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops and operates data centers in the People's Republic of China. The company provides colocation services comprising critical facilities space, customer-available power, racks, and cooling; managed hosting services, including business continuity and disaster recovery, network management, data storage, system security, operating system, database, and server middleware services; managed cloud services; and consulting services. It serves cloud service providers, large Internet companies, financial institutions, telecommunications and IT service providers, and large domestic private sector and multinational corporations. GDS Holdings Limited was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.

About Cognizant Technology Solutions

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, a professional services company, provides consulting and technology, and outsourcing services in North America, Europe, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Financial Services, Health Sciences, Products and Resources, and Communications, Media and Technology. The company provides customer experience, robotic process automation, analytics, and AI services in areas, such as digital lending, fraud detection, and next generation payments; the shift towards consumerism, outcome-based contracting, digital health, delivering integrated seamless, omni-channel, and patient-centered experience; and services that drive operational improvements in areas, such as clinical development, pharmacovigilance, and manufacturing, as well as claims processing, enrollment, membership, and billing to healthcare providers and payers, and life sciences companies, including pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies. It offers solution to manufacturers, automakers, retailers and travel and hospitality companies, as well as companies providing logistics, energy and utility services; and digital content, business process improvement, technology modernization, and the creation of unified and compelling user experience services to communications, media and entertainment, education, and information services and technology companies. The company was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.