Contrasting Upland Software (NASDAQ:UPLD) & SPS Commerce (NASDAQ:SPSC)

SPS Commerce (NASDAQ:SPSC) and Upland Software (NASDAQ:UPLD) are both technology companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

SPS Commerce has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Upland Software has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares SPS Commerce and Upland Software’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SPS Commerce	10.65%	13.72%	11.38%
Upland Software	-18.44%	-34.37%	6.36%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for SPS Commerce and Upland Software, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SPS Commerce	1	7	2	0	2.10
Upland Software	1	0	2	0	2.33

SPS Commerce currently has a consensus price target of $79.33, indicating a potential downside of 4.24%. Upland Software has a consensus price target of $10.50, indicating a potential upside of 240.91%. Given Upland Software’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Upland Software is more favorable than SPS Commerce.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.0% of SPS Commerce shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.8% of Upland Software shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of SPS Commerce shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.6% of Upland Software shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares SPS Commerce and Upland Software”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SPS Commerce	$780.24 million	3.76	$93.34 million	$2.25	36.82
Upland Software	$216.88 million	0.04	-$38.90 million	($14.20)	-0.22

SPS Commerce has higher revenue and earnings than Upland Software. Upland Software is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SPS Commerce, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

SPS Commerce beats Upland Software on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SPS Commerce

SPS Commerce provides cloud-based supply chain management software and services, with a focus on helping retailers, suppliers, distributors and logistics providers exchange business information and coordinate transactions. Its platform connects trading partners and supports electronic data interchange (EDI), order processing and fulfillment workflows. The company also offers tools for supply chain analytics and product information management, along with implementation and ongoing support services.

About Upland Software

Upland Software, Inc. is an enterprise software company that develops cloud-based applications for managing work, customer relationships and business processes. Its software is designed to help organizations automate workflows, organize information, improve collaboration and measure operational performance across departments. Upland’s product portfolio has included solutions for project and portfolio management, enterprise content management, knowledge management, customer experience, customer service, sales enablement, communications and information technology service management.