Contrasting Cognyte Software (NASDAQ:CGNT) & WaveDancer (NASDAQ:WAVD)

Cognyte Software (NASDAQ:CGNT) and WaveDancer (NASDAQ:WAVD) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Cognyte Software and WaveDancer, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cognyte Software	0	3	0	0	2.00
WaveDancer	0	0	0	0	0.00

Cognyte Software presently has a consensus price target of $8.25, indicating a potential downside of 5.71%. Given Cognyte Software’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cognyte Software is more favorable than WaveDancer.

Profitability

This table compares Cognyte Software and WaveDancer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cognyte Software	-3.95%	-13.38%	-6.12%
WaveDancer	-17.55%	-57.30%	-27.44%

Risk and Volatility

Cognyte Software has a beta of 1.81, meaning that its share price is 81% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WaveDancer has a beta of 3.15, meaning that its share price is 215% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Cognyte Software and WaveDancer”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cognyte Software	$313.40 million	2.01	-$15.57 million	($0.19)	-46.05
WaveDancer	$7.74 million	0.81	-$2.03 million	N/A	N/A

WaveDancer has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cognyte Software.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

72.9% of Cognyte Software shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 5.0% of WaveDancer shares are owned by institutional investors. 62.7% of Cognyte Software shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.7% of WaveDancer shares are owned by 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.

Summary

Cognyte Software beats WaveDancer on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cognyte Software

Cognyte Software Ltd. provides an investigative analytics software to governments and enterprises worldwide. Its Actionable Intelligence for a Safer World, an open software designed to help governments and enterprises accelerate and enhance the effectiveness of investigations. The company offers network intelligence analytics, threat intelligence analytics, decision intelligence analytics, and operational intelligence analytics solutions. Its solutions are designed to support various use cases and support a range of users, including data analysts, investigation managers, and security operations center operators, as well as operational field teams. In addition, the company provides customer support, professional, and integration services. Its government customers include national, regional, and local government agencies. Cognyte Software Ltd. was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel.

About WaveDancer

WaveDancer, Inc. develops and maintains information technology systems in the United States. The company also modernizes client information systems; and offers other IT-related professional services to government and commercial organizations. In addition, it offers IT consulting, development, training, migration, and on-site project support; and software development, system modernizations, cloud services, and cybersecurity services. The company was formerly known as Information Analysis Incorporated and changed its name to WaveDancer, Inc. in December 2021. WaveDancer, Inc. was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.