Critical Contrast: ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) and Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL)

ANSYS (NASDAQ:ANSS) and Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares ANSYS and Duolingo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ANSYS	23.01%	12.64%	9.55%
Duolingo	12.59%	11.74%	7.92%

Volatility and Risk

ANSYS has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Duolingo has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for ANSYS and Duolingo, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ANSYS	1	4	1	0	2.00
Duolingo	0	5	7	1	2.69

ANSYS currently has a consensus price target of $342.50, suggesting a potential downside of 0.81%. Duolingo has a consensus price target of $340.70, suggesting a potential downside of 7.54%. Given ANSYS’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe ANSYS is more favorable than Duolingo.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.4% of ANSYS shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Duolingo shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of ANSYS shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.3% of Duolingo shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ANSYS and Duolingo”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ANSYS	$2.27 billion	13.30	$500.41 million	$6.48	53.29
Duolingo	$531.11 million	30.52	$16.07 million	$1.83	201.37

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

Summary

ANSYS beats Duolingo on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ANSYS

ANSYS, Inc. develops and markets engineering simulation software and services for engineers, designers, researchers, and students in the United States, Japan, Germany, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It offers structural analysis product suite that provides simulation tools for product design and optimization; the Ansys Mechanical product, an element analysis software; LS-DYNA solver for multiphysics simulation; and power analysis and optimization software suite. The company also offers electronics product suite that provides electromagnetic field simulation software for designing electronic and electromechanical products; Ansys High Frequency Structure Simulator product for radio frequency and microwave design; SCADE product suite, a solution for embedded software simulation, code production, and automated certification; fluids product suite that enables modeling of fluid flow and other related physical phenomena; Ansys Fluent computational fluid dynamics software package; Ansys RedHawk-SC for electronic design automation; Ansys Optics software; and mission-simulation, modeling, testing, and analysis software. In addition, it offers Ansys Granta MI system for materials information management; Ansys Granta Selector technology for materials selection and graphical analysis; CES EduPack product, a set of teaching resources; Granta Materials Data for Simulation; Ansys Lumerical product, a photonics simulation software solution; safety-certified embedded software solutions; Discovery product family for use in the simulation of product design; academic product suite for research and teaching settings. ANSYS, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

About Duolingo

Duolingo, Inc. operates as a mobile learning platform in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers courses in 40 different languages, including Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese through its Duolingo app. It also provides a digital English language proficiency assessment exam. Duolingo, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.