Critical Review: VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) & X3 (NASDAQ:XTKG)

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) and X3 (NASDAQ:XTKG) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

VeriSign has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, X3 has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares VeriSign and X3″s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
VeriSign	$1.49 billion	11.63	$817.60 million	$8.60	21.02
X3	$16.83 million	0.01	-$109.60 million	N/A	N/A

VeriSign has higher revenue and earnings than X3.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for VeriSign and X3, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
VeriSign	0	1	1	0	2.50
X3	0	0	0	0	0.00

VeriSign currently has a consensus price target of $218.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.60%. Given VeriSign’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe VeriSign is more favorable than X3.

Profitability

This table compares VeriSign and X3’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
VeriSign	55.74%	-45.59%	49.06%
X3	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.9% of VeriSign shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.9% of X3 shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of VeriSign shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.9% of X3 shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

VeriSign beats X3 on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About VeriSign

VeriSign, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce. It operates directory for .name and .cc; and back-end systems for .edu, domain names. VeriSign, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

About X3

X3 Holdings Co Ltd. provides technology solutions and services worldwide. The company offers Global Trade Platform, a digital platform for trading partners, service providers, and government authorities. It also engages in bitcoin cryptomining operations, renewable energy projects, and agriculture technologies and trading. The company was formerly known as Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd. and changed its name to X3 Holdings Co Ltd. in January 2024. X3 Holdings Co Ltd. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Singapore.