Financial Review: Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE) vs. Paycor HCM (NASDAQ:PYCR)

Paycor HCM (NASDAQ:PYCR) and Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Paycor HCM and Aware’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Paycor HCM	-13.82%	1.28%	0.62%
Aware	-36.65%	-12.91%	-9.73%

Volatility & Risk

Paycor HCM has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aware has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

36.8% of Paycor HCM shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.4% of Aware shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Paycor HCM shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.6% of Aware shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Paycor HCM and Aware, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Paycor HCM	0	8	4	0	2.33
Aware	0	0	0	0	N/A

Paycor HCM currently has a consensus target price of $27.35, indicating a potential upside of 56.30%. Given Paycor HCM’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Paycor HCM is more favorable than Aware.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Paycor HCM and Aware’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Paycor HCM	$552.69 million	5.64	-$93.21 million	($0.48)	-36.46
Aware	$18.36 million	2.43	-$7.31 million	($0.33)	-6.42

Aware has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Paycor HCM. Paycor HCM is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aware, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Paycor HCM beats Aware on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Paycor HCM

Paycor HCM, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) human capital management (HCM) solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) primarily in the United States. It offers cloud-native platform to address the comprehensive people management needs of SMB leaders. The company's SaaS based people management products include Cor HCM, a complete suite of HCM tools spanning HR, onboarding, payroll, compensation management, employee surveys, expenses, and reporting and analytics; Workforce Management, a solution with flexible time entry, overtime calculations, and scheduling capabilities with real-time payroll synchronization; Benefits Administration, a decision support solution to help leaders to streamline and optimize company's benefits administration; and Talent Management, an integrated compensation and performance management solution. It serves manufacturing, healthcare, restaurant, retail, professional services, nonprofit, and education industries through its direct sales teams. Paycor HCM, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

About Aware

Aware, Inc., an authentication company, provides biometrics software products and solutions for government agencies and commercial entities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers biometric software solution, including Knomi, a mobile biometric framework which provides multiple biometric modality options; AwareABIS, an automated biometric identification system used for large-scale biometric identification and deduplication; AFIX suite used for small-scale law enforcement focused biometric identification; and AFIX Tracker for fingerprint, palmprint, and latent print identification, as well as AFIX Face, AFIX Verifier, AFIX Identifier, AFIX Comparator, AFIX Engine, and AFIX NIST Transaction Engine. It also provides BioSP, a biometric integration platform-as-a-service that enables biometric data processing and management functionality in a web services architecture; WebEnroll, a browser-based biometric enrollment and data management solution; and AwareID, a software-as-a-service that provides identity verification and continuous authentication capabilities. In addition, the company offers biometrics applications, such as Nexa line, a biometric search and match SDKs including Nexa Fingerprint, Nexa Face, Nexa Iris, and Nexa Voice; and AwareXM, an interoperable fingerprint matching SDK that provides fingerprint minutiae extraction, template generation, and fingerprint authentication. Further, it sells imaging products used in medical and advanced imaging application; and offers software maintenance, program management, and software engineering services. The company sells its products, services, and solutions through systems integrators, direct, and original equipment manufacturers and value added resellers channel. Aware, Inc. was incorporated in 1986 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.