Critical Comparison: Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) vs. Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT)

Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) and Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Akamai Technologies and Lyft’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Akamai Technologies	13.27%	14.63%	6.85%
Lyft	-1.19%	-1.58%	-0.18%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Akamai Technologies and Lyft, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Akamai Technologies	1	5	14	2	2.77
Lyft	0	28	9	1	2.29

Akamai Technologies currently has a consensus price target of $116.85, indicating a potential upside of 24.15%. Lyft has a consensus price target of $17.77, indicating a potential upside of 30.60%. Given Lyft’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Lyft is more favorable than Akamai Technologies.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.3% of Akamai Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.1% of Lyft shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Akamai Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Lyft shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Akamai Technologies and Lyft”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Akamai Technologies	$3.97 billion	3.56	$547.63 million	$3.38	27.85
Lyft	$5.46 billion	1.03	-$340.32 million	($0.16)	-85.06

Akamai Technologies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Lyft. Lyft is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Akamai Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Akamai Technologies has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lyft has a beta of 2.09, indicating that its stock price is 109% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Akamai Technologies beats Lyft on 11 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 Lyft

Lyft, Inc. operates a peer-to-peer marketplace for on-demand ridesharing in the United States and Canada. It operates multimodal transportation networks that offer access to various transportation options through the Lyft platform and mobile-based applications. The company's platform provides a ridesharing marketplace, which connects drivers with riders; Express Drive, a car rental program for drivers; and a network of shared bikes and scooters in various cities to address the needs of riders for short trips. It also offers centralized tools and enterprise transportation solutions, such as concierge transportation solutions for organizations; Lyft Pink subscription plans; Lyft Pass commuter programs; first-mile and last-mile services; and university safe rides programs. The company was formerly known as Zimride, Inc. and changed its name to Lyft, Inc. in April 2013. Lyft, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.