ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) & Expensify (NASDAQ:EXFY) Critical Comparison

ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW) and Expensify (NASDAQ:EXFY) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

ACI Worldwide has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Expensify has a beta of 1.69, indicating that its stock price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ACI Worldwide and Expensify”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ACI Worldwide	$1.59 billion	2.95	$203.12 million	$2.54	17.63
Expensify	$139.24 million	1.29	-$10.06 million	($0.09)	-24.78

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.7% of ACI Worldwide shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.4% of Expensify shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of ACI Worldwide shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.3% of Expensify 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.

Profitability

This table compares ACI Worldwide and Expensify’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ACI Worldwide	16.12%	20.94%	9.03%
Expensify	-6.66%	-7.60%	-5.16%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for ACI Worldwide and Expensify, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ACI Worldwide	0	2	3	0	2.60
Expensify	0	1	2	0	2.67

ACI Worldwide currently has a consensus target price of $60.00, indicating a potential upside of 33.99%. Expensify has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 79.37%. Given Expensify’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Expensify is more favorable than ACI Worldwide.

Summary

ACI Worldwide beats Expensify on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ACI Worldwide

ACI Worldwide, Inc., a software company, develops, markets, installs, and supports a range of software products and solutions for facilitating digital payments in the United States and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Banks, Merchants, and Billers. The company offers ACI Acquiring, a solution to process credit, debit, and prepaid card transactions, deliver digital innovation, and fraud prevention; ACI Issuing, a digital payment issuing solution for new payment offering; and ACI Enterprise Payments Platform that provides payment processing and orchestration capabilities for digital payments. It also provides ACI Low Value Real-Time Payments, a platform for processing real-time payments; and ACI High Value Real-Time Payments, a payments engine that offers multi-bank, multi-currency, 24×7 payment processing, and SWIFT messaging. In addition, the company offers ACI Payments Orchestration Platform for optimizing payments; omni-channel payment platform; ACI Fraud Management, a real-time approach to fraud management; and ACI Speedpay, an integrated suite of digital billing, payment, disbursement, and communication services. The company offers electronic bill presentment and payment services to consumer finance, insurance, healthcare, higher education, utility, government, telecommunications, and mortgage sectors; implementation services, include product installations and configurations, and custom software modifications; and business and technical consultancy, on-site support, product education, and testing services, as well as distributes or acts as a sales agent for software developed by third parties. It markets its products under the ACI Worldwide brand. The company was formerly known as Transaction Systems Architects, Inc. and changed its name to ACI Worldwide, Inc. in July 2007. The company was founded in 1975 and is based in Elkhorn, Nebraska.

About Expensify

Expensify, Inc. provides a cloud-based expense management software platform to individuals and corporations, small and midsized businesses, and enterprises in the United States and internationally. The company’s platform enables users to manage corporate cards, pay bills, generate invoices, collect payments, and book travel. It also offers track and submit plans for individuals. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in Portland, Oregon.