Analyzing Viasat (NASDAQ:VSAT) and AudioCodes (NASDAQ:AUDC)

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

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares AudioCodes and Viasat”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AudioCodes	$249.25 million	1.08	$8.95 million	$0.26	42.85
Viasat	$4.64 billion	2.29	-$34.09 million	($0.24)	-320.92

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

Volatility and Risk

AudioCodes has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Viasat has a beta of 1.76, meaning that its stock price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

68.1% of AudioCodes shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.0% of Viasat shares are held by institutional investors. 48.8% of AudioCodes shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Viasat shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares AudioCodes and Viasat’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AudioCodes	2.83%	6.79%	3.45%
Viasat	-0.64%	1.44%	0.45%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for AudioCodes and Viasat, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AudioCodes	0	1	0	0	2.00
Viasat	1	2	7	1	2.73

Viasat has a consensus price target of $90.67, suggesting a potential upside of 17.72%. Given Viasat’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Viasat is more favorable than AudioCodes.

Summary

Viasat beats AudioCodes on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AudioCodes

AudioCodes Ltd. provides advanced communications software, products, and productivity solutions for the digital workplace worldwide. The company offers solutions, products, and services for unified communications, contact centers, hosted business services, Voice.AI, and service provider businesses. Its products include session border controllers, life cycle management solutions, VoIP network routing solutions, media gateways and servers, multi-service business routers, IP phones solutions, and value-added applications, as well as professional services. The company also offers One Voice Operations Center, a voice network management solution; Device Manager for administering business phones and meeting room solutions; AudioCodes Routing Manager for handling call routing in VoIP networks; and User Management Pack 365 simplifies user lifecycle and identity management across Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business deployments. In addition, it provides AudioCodes Live for Microsoft Teams, a portfolio of managed services for simplifying Teams adoption; appliances for Microsoft Skype/Teams for Business, such as survivable branch appliances, CCE, and CloudBond 365; and a range of value-added voice applications comprising SmartTAP, Voca, VoiceAI Connect, and Meeting Insights. Further, the company offers managed services; and AudioCodes Live Platform is a SaaS solution that enables service providers to offer their business customers a seamless migration to uCaaS solutions, such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom Phone. It primarily markets and sells its products through a direct sales force and sales representatives to original equipment manufacturers, network equipment providers, and systems integrators, enterprises, carriers, and distributors in the telecommunications and networking industries. AudioCodes Ltd. was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Lod, Israel.

About Viasat

Viasat, Inc. provides broadband and communications products and services worldwide. The company's Satellite Services segment offers satellite-based fixed broadband services, including broadband internet access and voice over internet protocol services to consumers and businesses; in-flight entertainment and aviation software services to commercial airlines and private business jets; satellite-based connectivity services; mobile broadband services, including satellite-based internet services to energy offshore vessels, cruise ships, consumer ferries, and yachts; and energy services, which include ultra-secure solutions IP connectivity, bandwidth-optimized over-the-top applications, industrial internet-of-things big data enablement, and industry-leading machine learning analytics. Its Commercial Networks segment offers fixed broadband satellite communication systems comprising satellite network infrastructure and ground terminals; mobile broadband satellite communication systems; antenna systems for terrestrial and satellite applications, such as earth imaging, remote sensing, mobile satellite communication, Ka-band earth stations, and other multi-band antennas; and space systems design and satellite networking development systems. The company's Government Systems segment offers government mobile broadband products and services include mobile broadband modems, and terminals and network access control systems; mesh and hub-and-spoke satellite networking systems; secure networking, cybersecurity, and information assurance products; and tactical data link solutions. It designs and development of satellite and ground communications systems and network function virtualization, as well as ground-based network subsystems, as well as space system design and development products and services include architectures for GEO, MEO, LEO satellites, and other satellite platforms. The company was incorporated in 1986 and is headquartered in Carlsbad, California.