Analyzing Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK) and Afterpay (OTCMKTS:AFTPF)

Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK) and Afterpay (OTCMKTS:AFTPF) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Splunk and Afterpay’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Splunk	$4.22 billion	6.27	$263.73 million	$1.26	124.52
Afterpay	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Splunk has higher revenue and earnings than Afterpay.

Profitability

This table compares Splunk and Afterpay’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Splunk	6.26%	32,117.42%	7.18%
Afterpay	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Splunk and Afterpay, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Splunk	0	23	5	0	2.18
Afterpay	0	0	0	0	N/A

Splunk currently has a consensus target price of $135.31, suggesting a potential downside of 13.76%. Given Splunk’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Splunk is more favorable than Afterpay.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.6% of Splunk shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Splunk shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Splunk beats Afterpay on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Splunk

Splunk Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and markets cloud services and licensed software solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers unified security and observability platform, including Splunk Security that helps security leaders fortify their organization's digital resilience by mitigating cyber risk and meeting compliance requirements; and Splunk Observability, which provides visibility across the full stack of infrastructure, applications, and the digital customer experience. It also provides application programming interfaces, software development kits, and other interfaces that enables its network of third-party developers, partners, and customers to build content, including pre-built data inputs, workflows, searches, reports, alerts, custom dashboards, flexible user interface components, custom data visualizations, and integration actions and methods that configures and extends its solutions to accommodate specific use cases. In addition, the company offers adoption and implementation, education, and customer support services. It sells its offerings directly through field and inside sales, and indirectly through various routes to market with various partners. Splunk Inc. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. As of March 18, 2024, Splunk Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

About Afterpay

Afterpay Limited provides payments solutions for customers, merchants, and businesses. The company operates through Afterpay ANZ, Afterpay US, Clearpay, and Pay Now segments. It offers Afterpay and Clearpay services; and Pay Now services comprising mobility, health, and e-services. The company also operates Genderfree shop. It serves in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The company was formerly known as Afterpay Touch Group Limited and changed its name to Afterpay Limited in November 2019. Afterpay Limited was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Melbourne, Australia.