Reviewing Varonis Systems (NASDAQ:VRNS) & Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN)

Varonis Systems (NASDAQ:VRNS) and Gen Digital (NASDAQ:GEN) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Varonis Systems and Gen Digital, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Varonis Systems	0	5	13	1	2.79
Gen Digital	0	1	0	3	3.50

Varonis Systems currently has a consensus target price of $57.11, indicating a potential upside of 41.40%. Gen Digital has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.27%. Given Varonis Systems’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Varonis Systems is more favorable than Gen Digital.

Volatility and Risk

Varonis Systems has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gen Digital has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Varonis Systems and Gen Digital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Varonis Systems	-17.38%	-20.35%	-6.85%
Gen Digital	16.32%	58.83%	7.98%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

95.7% of Varonis Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.4% of Gen Digital shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Varonis Systems shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.2% of Gen Digital shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Varonis Systems and Gen Digital”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Varonis Systems	$550.95 million	8.25	-$95.76 million	($0.86)	-46.97
Gen Digital	$3.90 billion	3.86	$616.00 million	$1.02	23.97

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

Summary

Gen Digital beats Varonis Systems on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Varonis Systems

Varonis Systems, Inc. provides software products and services that allow enterprises to manage, analyze, alert, and secure enterprise data in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. Its software enables enterprises to protect data stored on premises and in the cloud, including sensitive files and emails; confidential personal data belonging to customers, and patients and employees' data; financial records; source code, strategic and product plans; and other intellectual property. It offers DatAdvantage that captures, aggregates, normalizes, and analyzes every data access event for users on Windows and UNIX/Linux servers, storage devices, email systems, intranet servers, cloud applications, and data stores; and DatAlert that profiles users, devices, and their behaviors related to systems and data, detects and alerts on deviations that indicate compromise, and provides a web-based dashboard and investigative interface. It also provides data Classification engine that identifies and tags data based on criteria set in various metadata dimensions, as well as provides business and information technology (IT) personnel with actionable intelligence about data; and DataPrivilege. In addition, the company offers Data Transport Engine, an execution engine that unifies the manipulation of data and metadata, translating business decisions, and instructions into technical commands, such as data migration or archiving; and DatAnswers that provides search functionality for enterprise data. It serves its products to financial services, public, healthcare, industrial, technology, insurance, energy and utilities, consumer and retail, education and construction, and engineering sectors. The company sells its products through a network of distributors and resellers. Varonis Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Gen Digital

Gen Digital Inc. engages in the provision of cyber safety solutions for consumers in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company offers security and performance products under Norton, Avast, Avira, AVG, and CCleaner brands that provide real-time protection and maintenance for PCs, Macs, and mobile devices against malware, viruses, adware, and other online threats. It also provides identity protection solutions, including LifeLock Identity Theft Protection, Avast and AVG Secure Identity, Norton Identity Theft Protection, and Dark Web Monitoring for monitoring of credit reports, financial accounts, the dark web, and social media accounts to help safeguard customers’ personal information. In addition, the company offers Virtual Private Network (VPN) solutions under Norton, Avast and AVG brands to enhance security and online privacy that allows customers to securely transmit and access private information, such as passwords, bank details, and credit card numbers, when using public Wi-Fi on PCs, Macs, and mobile iOS and Android devices; AntiTrack and Secure Browser products which helps to keep personal information and browsing activity anonymous while browsing online; and Privacy Monitor Assistant and BreachGuard products for removing customers’ data from public data broker sites; and ReputationDefender, a white glove service that helps customers manage all aspects of their personal branding online, including search results, social media sites, and overall web presence. It markets and sells its products and related services through retailers, telecom service providers, hardware original equipment manufacturers, and employee benefit providers, as well as e-commerce platform. The company was formerly known as NortonLifeLock Inc. and changed its name to Gen Digital Inc. in November 2022. Gen Digital Inc. was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.