Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM – Get Free Report) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.
Volatility and Risk
Akamai Technologies has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alphabet has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Akamai Technologies and Alphabet”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Akamai Technologies | $4.21 billion | 4.41 | $452.03 million | $2.97 | 42.99 |
| Alphabet | $402.84 billion | 10.89 | $132.17 billion | $13.11 | 27.62 |
Alphabet has higher revenue and earnings than Akamai Technologies. Alphabet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Akamai Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Akamai Technologies and Alphabet’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Akamai Technologies | 10.20% | 12.96% | 5.56% |
| Alphabet | 37.92% | 38.99% | 27.41% |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
94.3% of Akamai Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 27.3% of Alphabet shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of Akamai Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.0% of Alphabet shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent recommendations for Akamai Technologies and Alphabet, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Akamai Technologies | 3 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 2.41 |
| Alphabet | 0 | 4 | 29 | 5 | 3.03 |
Akamai Technologies presently has a consensus target price of $145.29, suggesting a potential upside of 13.80%. Alphabet has a consensus target price of $376.78, suggesting a potential upside of 4.05%. Given Akamai Technologies’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Akamai Technologies is more favorable than Alphabet.
Summary
Alphabet beats Akamai Technologies on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Akamai Technologies
Akamai Technologies, Inc. provides cloud computing, security, and content delivery services in the United States and internationally. The company offers cloud solutions to keep infrastructure, websites, applications, application programming interfaces, and users safe from various cyberattacks and online threats while enhancing performance. It also provides web and mobile performance solutions to enable dynamic websites and applications; media delivery solutions, including video streaming and video player services, game and software delivery, broadcast operations, authoritative domain name system, resolution, and data and analytics; and cloud computing services, such as compute, storage, networking, database, and container management services to build, deploy, and secure applications and workloads. In addition, the company offers content delivery solutions; and an array of service and support to assist customers with integrating, configuring, optimizing, and managing its offerings. It sells its solutions through various channel partners. Akamai Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
About Alphabet
Alphabet Inc. offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. It is also involved in the sale of apps and in-app purchases and digital content in the Google Play and YouTube; and devices, as well as in the provision of YouTube consumer subscription services. The Google Cloud segment offers infrastructure, cybersecurity, databases, analytics, AI, and other services; Google Workspace that include cloud-based communication and collaboration tools for enterprises, such as Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, and Meet; and other services for enterprise customers. The Other Bets segment sells healthcare-related and internet services. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
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