Reviewing Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE) and Sabre (NASDAQ:SABR)

Aware (NASDAQ:AWRE) and Sabre (NASDAQ:SABR) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aware	-35.46%	-19.04%	-13.94%
Sabre	-12.18%	N/A	-2.26%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

24.4% of Aware shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.4% of Sabre shares are held by institutional investors. 29.7% of Aware shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Sabre shares are held by 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 summary of recent ratings for Aware and Sabre, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aware	0	0	0	0	0.00
Sabre	1	3	2	0	2.17

Sabre has a consensus price target of $3.80, indicating a potential upside of 115.91%. Given Sabre’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sabre is more favorable than Aware.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Aware and Sabre”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aware	$17.39 million	2.88	-$4.43 million	($0.28)	-8.39
Sabre	$3.03 billion	0.23	-$278.76 million	($0.91)	-1.93

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

Volatility & Risk

Aware has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sabre has a beta of 1.47, suggesting that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sabre beats Aware on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Sabre

Sabre Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as software and technology company for travel industry in the United States, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. It operates through two segments: Travel Solutions and Hospitality Solutions. The Travel Solutions segment operates a business-to-business travel marketplace that offers travel content, such as inventory, prices, and availability from a range of travel suppliers, including airlines, hotels, car rental brands, rail carriers, cruise lines, and tour operators with a network of travel buyers comprising online and offline travel agencies, travel management companies, and corporate travel departments. This segment provides a portfolio of software technology products and solutions through software-as-a-service (SaaS) and hosted delivery models to airlines and other travel suppliers. Its products include reservation systems for carriers, commercial and operations products, agency solutions, and data-driven intelligence solutions. Its Hospitality Solutions segment provides software and solutions to hoteliers through SaaS and hosted delivery models. Sabre Corporation was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Southlake, Texas.