Reviewing Rand Worldwide (RWWI) and The Competition

Volatility and Risk

Rand Worldwide has a beta of 0.15, meaning that its stock price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rand Worldwide’s peers have a beta of 0.42, meaning that their average stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Rand Worldwide and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rand Worldwide	15.31%	122.04%	21.50%
Rand Worldwide Competitors	-71.61%	-38.00%	-6.78%

Dividends

Rand Worldwide pays an annual dividend of $0.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Rand Worldwide pays out 17.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Prepackaged software” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.2% and pay out 53.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Rand Worldwide is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Rand Worldwide and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rand Worldwide	$408.11 million	$52.43 million	11.08
Rand Worldwide Competitors	$2.50 billion	$326.31 million	-644.24

Rand Worldwide’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Rand Worldwide. Rand Worldwide is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of Rand Worldwide shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.9% of shares of all “Prepackaged software” companies are held by institutional investors. 59.2% of Rand Worldwide shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.1% of shares of all “Prepackaged software” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Rand Worldwide beats its peers on 7 of the 11 factors compared.

Rand Worldwide Company Profile

Rand Worldwide, Inc. provides design automation and data management solutions primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates in five divisions: IMAGINiT Technologies, Rand Simulation, Facilities Management, ASCENT, and Rand 3D. The IMAGINiT Technologies division resells Autodesk solutions and system integration, and consulting services to customers in the manufacturing, infrastructure, building, and media and entertainment industries; resells Twinmotion visualization software, which provides design professionals to transform architectural models and designs into photorealistic images and immersive videos; offers a range of 3D laser scanning equipment and related software to help architectural, engineering, and construction firms; and sells its own proprietary software products and related services. The Rand Simulation division offers Ansys engineering simulation software to help organizations incorporate engineering simulation technology into the product development process; and provides simulation consulting services to enable organizations to achieve cost savings and design improvements through simulation technology. The Facilities Management division provides ARCHIBUS products for facilities management software for space planning, strategic planning, and lease/property administration; and offers various training, consulting, and support services for the ARCHIBUS products. The ASCENT division provides professional training materials and knowledge products for engineering software tools. The Rand 3D division offers training solutions for Dassault Systèmes and PTC products, including Pro/ENGINEER, CREO, and Windchill. Rand Worldwide, Inc. is based in Baltimore, Maryland.