Appian Corporation (APPN) vs Shift4 Payments, Inc. (FOUR)

Appian Corporation and Shift4 Payments, Inc. are both Software Infrastructure companies. Appian Corporation and Shift4 Payments, Inc. are of similar size ($3.1B and $3.1B). Appian Corporation has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; Shift4 Payments, Inc. trades at 62.6×. Shift4 Payments, Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 32.4% against 20.9%. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has the higher net margin (0.92% vs −1.34%) and the higher return on invested capital (4.12% vs 0.00%). Across the 19 metrics below, Shift4 Payments, Inc. leads on 14 and Appian Corporation on 5.

Valuation

Metric APPN FOUR Software Infrastructure median
P/E n/m 62.59 28.38
P/S 3.77 1.31 2.98
P/B n/m 3.60 2.93
Price to free cash flow 39.11 20.10 16.28
EV/EBITDA 151.50 11.06 13.92
EV/Sales 3.86 2.18 2.90
Earnings yield (0.34%) 1.60% 0.14%
Free cash flow yield 2.56% 4.97% 1.24%

Profitability

Metric APPN FOUR Software Infrastructure median
Gross margin 72.40% 35.91% 61.00%
Operating margin 1.28% 8.11% 0.00%
Net margin (1.34%) 0.92% 0.00%
Free cash flow margin 9.65% 6.50% 1.67%
Return on equity 13.37% 3.20% 0.60%
Return on assets (1.81%) 0.56% 0.00%
Return on invested capital 0.00% 4.12% 0.00%

Growth

Metric APPN FOUR Software Infrastructure median
Revenue growth (TTM) 20.90% 32.44% 13.41%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 101.59% (64.36%) 27.10%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 19.00% 40.37% 15.57%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%

Health

Metric APPN FOUR Software Infrastructure median
Debt to equity (2.24) 2.60 0.05
Current ratio 1.00 1.21 1.55
Net debt to EBITDA 4.91 4.44 0.08

Dividend

Metric APPN FOUR Software Infrastructure median
Dividend yield — — 1.20%
Payout ratio — — 0.29

Size

Metric APPN FOUR Software Infrastructure median
Market cap 3.14b 3.11b 752.37m

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