Financial Analysis: Ceridian HCM (NYSE:CDAY) & Shopify (NYSE:SHOP)

Ceridian HCM (NYSE:CDAY) and Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

69.3% of Shopify shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of Ceridian HCM shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Ceridian HCM and Shopify’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ceridian HCM	0.28%	2.03%	0.51%
Shopify	16.84%	11.60%	9.37%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Ceridian HCM and Shopify, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ceridian HCM	0	0	2	0	3.00
Shopify	1	15	23	1	2.60

Ceridian HCM presently has a consensus price target of $80.50, indicating a potential upside of 7.56%. Shopify has a consensus price target of $99.03, indicating a potential downside of 9.11%. Given Ceridian HCM’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Ceridian HCM is more favorable than Shopify.

Volatility and Risk

Ceridian HCM has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shopify has a beta of 2.46, indicating that its share price is 146% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ceridian HCM and Shopify”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ceridian HCM	$1.45 billion	8.06	-$73.40 million	$0.03	2,494.67
Shopify	$8.21 billion	17.14	$132.00 million	$1.07	101.82

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

Summary

Shopify beats Ceridian HCM on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ceridian HCM

Ceridian HCM Holding Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a human capital management (HCM) software company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers Dayforce, a cloud HCM platform that provides human resources, payroll, benefits, workforce management, and talent management functionality; and Powerpay, a cloud HR and payroll solution for the small business market. The company also provides Bureau solutions for payroll and payroll-related services. It sells its solutions through direct sales force and third-party channels. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About Shopify

Shopify Inc., a commerce company, provides a commerce platform and services in Canada, the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, China, and Latin America. The company’s platform enables merchants to displays, manages, markets, and sells its products through various sales channels, including web and mobile storefronts, physical retail locations, pop-up shops, social media storefronts, native mobile apps, buy buttons, and marketplaces; and enables to manage products and inventory, process orders and payments, fulfill and ship orders, new buyers and build customer relationships, source products, leverage analytics and reporting, manage cash, payments and transactions, and access financing. It also sells custom themes and apps, and registration of domain names; and merchant solutions, which include accepting payments, shipping, and securing working capital. The company was formerly known as Jaded Pixel Technologies Inc. and changed its name to Shopify Inc. in November 2011. Shopify Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada.