Head to Head Comparison: C3.ai (NYSE:AI) and Appian (NASDAQ:APPN)

C3.ai (NYSE:AI) and Appian (NASDAQ:APPN) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares C3.ai and Appian’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
C3.ai	-192.10%	-61.25%	-49.03%
Appian	-0.72%	-43.13%	5.33%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for C3.ai and Appian, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
C3.ai	7	5	2	0	1.64
Appian	2	3	2	1	2.25

C3.ai presently has a consensus price target of $9.62, suggesting a potential downside of 19.98%. Appian has a consensus price target of $44.33, suggesting a potential downside of 16.78%. Given Appian’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Appian is more favorable than C3.ai.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

39.0% of C3.ai shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.7% of Appian shares are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of C3.ai shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 42.8% of Appian shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

C3.ai has a beta of 2.17, indicating that its share price is 117% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Appian has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares C3.ai and Appian”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
C3.ai	$250.27 million	7.73	-$470.37 million	($3.08)	-3.91
Appian	$842.93 million	4.53	$1.23 million	($0.08)	-665.94

Appian has higher revenue and earnings than C3.ai. Appian is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than C3.ai, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Appian beats C3.ai on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About C3.ai

C3.ai, Inc. is an enterprise software company that develops artificial intelligence applications and tools for businesses and government organizations. Its offerings are designed to help customers use data to address operational and analytical needs across industries including energy, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare and defense. The company’s products include the C3 AI Platform, which provides tools for developing, deploying and operating AI applications using enterprise data, as well as ready-made applications for use cases such as predictive maintenance, supply chain management and fraud detection.

About Appian

Appian Corporation develops a low-code platform that helps organizations build and manage business applications and automate complex processes. Its offerings combine application development tools with capabilities for workflow automation, case management, robotic process automation, and process mining. Founded in 1999 by Matt Calkins, Appian serves businesses and government organizations in a range of industries, including financial services, insurance, healthcare, life sciences, and the public sector.