Aurora Innovation (NASDAQ:AUR – Get Free Report) and Simulations Plus (NASDAQ:SLP – Get Free Report) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation and dividends.
Risk and Volatility
Aurora Innovation has a beta of 2.85, meaning that its stock price is 185% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Simulations Plus has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Aurora Innovation and Simulations Plus’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Aurora Innovation | $68.00 million | 61.86 | -$796.00 million | ($0.55) | -4.98 |
| Simulations Plus | $59.58 million | 17.09 | $9.96 million | $0.53 | 96.13 |
Simulations Plus has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Aurora Innovation. Aurora Innovation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Simulations Plus, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Aurora Innovation and Simulations Plus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Aurora Innovation | N/A | -41.20% | -36.62% |
| Simulations Plus | 16.22% | 7.95% | 7.35% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
44.7% of Aurora Innovation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.1% of Simulations Plus shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.8% of Aurora Innovation shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.9% of Simulations Plus shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Aurora Innovation and Simulations Plus, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Aurora Innovation | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Simulations Plus | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Aurora Innovation presently has a consensus target price of $3.75, suggesting a potential upside of 36.86%. Simulations Plus has a consensus target price of $51.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.10%. Given Aurora Innovation’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Aurora Innovation is more favorable than Simulations Plus.
Summary
Simulations Plus beats Aurora Innovation on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Aurora Innovation
(Get Free Report)
Aurora Innovation, Inc. operates as a self-driving technology company in the United States. It focuses on developing Aurora Driver, a platform that brings a suite of self-driving hardware, software, and data services together to adapt and interoperate vehicles. The company was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
About Simulations Plus
(Get Free Report)
Simulations Plus, Inc. develops drug discovery and development software for modeling and simulation, and prediction of molecular properties utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning based technology worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Software and Services. It offers GastroPlus, which simulates the absorption and drug interaction of compounds administered to humans and animals; and DDDPlus and MembranePlus simulation products. The company also provides products based on mechanistic and mathematical models, such as DILIsym, NAFLDsym, ILDsym, RENAsym, IPFsym, and MITOsym products. In addition, it offers Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, and Toxicity Predictor for chemistry-based computer program that takes molecular structures as inputs and predicts their properties; and MedChem Designer, as well as MonolixSuite products for modeling and simulation that allows for population analyses, rapid clinical trial data analyses, and regulatory submissions. Further, the company provides clinical-pharmacology-based consulting services, which includes population pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling, exposure-response analyses, clinical trial simulations, data programming, and technical writing services in support of regulatory submissions; and early drug discovery services. Additionally, it offers creative and insightful consulting services to support its quantitative systems pharmacology/quantitative systems toxicology modelling. The company serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agrochemical, cosmetics, and food industry companies, as well as academic and regulatory agencies. Simulations Plus, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Lancaster, California.
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