Critical Comparison: Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS) & WM Technology (NASDAQ:MAPS)

Cadence Design Systems (NASDAQ:CDNS) and WM Technology (NASDAQ:MAPS) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cadence Design Systems and WM Technology”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cadence Design Systems	$4.09 billion	18.89	$1.04 billion	$3.81	74.04
WM Technology	$187.99 million	0.65	-$9.90 million	($0.08)	-9.95

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

Profitability

This table compares Cadence Design Systems and WM Technology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cadence Design Systems	23.87%	28.49%	16.20%
WM Technology	-3.73%	-9.58%	-6.12%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.9% of Cadence Design Systems shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.0% of WM Technology shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of Cadence Design Systems shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.2% of WM Technology shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Cadence Design Systems has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WM Technology has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Cadence Design Systems and WM Technology, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cadence Design Systems	1	1	10	0	2.75
WM Technology	0	0	1	0	3.00

Cadence Design Systems currently has a consensus price target of $323.17, suggesting a potential upside of 14.56%. WM Technology has a consensus price target of $2.61, suggesting a potential upside of 228.05%. Given WM Technology’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe WM Technology is more favorable than Cadence Design Systems.

Summary

Cadence Design Systems beats WM Technology on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cadence Design Systems

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. provides software, hardware, services, and reusable integrated circuit (IC) design blocks worldwide. The company offers functional verification services, including emulation and prototyping hardware. Its functional verification offering consists of JasperGold, a formal verification platform; Xcelium, a parallel logic simulation platform; Palladium, an enterprise emulation platform; and Protium, a prototyping platform for chip verification. The company also provides digital IC design and sign off products, including Genus synthesis and Joules RTL power solutions, as well as Modus DFT software solution to reduce systems-on-chip design-for-test time; physical implementation tools, such as place and route, optimization, and multiple patterning preparation; and Innovus implementation system, a physical implementation system. In addition, it offers custom IC design and simulation products to create schematic and physical representations of circuits down to the transistor level for analog, mixed-signal, custom digital, memory, and radio frequency designs; and system design and analysis products to develop printed circuit boards and IC packages, as well as to analyze electromagnetic, electro-thermal, and other multi-physics effects. Further, the company provides intellectual property (IP) products comprising pre-verified and customizable functional blocks to integrate into customer's ICs; and verification IP with memory models to emulate and model the expected behavior and interaction of standard industry system interface protocols. Additionally, it offers services related to methodology, education, and hosted design solutions, as well as technical support and maintenance services. The company serves consumer, hyperscale computing, 5G communications, mobile, automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial, and life science industries. Cadence Design Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About WM Technology

WM Technology, Inc. provides ecommerce and compliance software solutions to retailers and brands in cannabis market in the United States and internationally. The company offers Weedmaps marketplace that allows cannabis users to search for and browse cannabis products from retailers and brands, and reserve products from local retailers; and education and learning information to help newer consumers learn about the types of products to purchase. It also provides monthly subscription-based business software solutions, including WM Listings, WM Orders, WM Store, WM Connectors, and WM Insights as well as other add-on products, such as WM Ads, WM AdSuite, WM Customer Relationship Management, WM Dispatch, and WM Screens. WM Technology, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.