BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) versus Dayforce (NYSE:DAY) Financial Survey

Dayforce (NYSE:DAY) and BlackLine (NASDAQ:BL) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Dayforce and BlackLine, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dayforce	0	6	9	0	2.60
BlackLine	2	6	4	0	2.17

Dayforce currently has a consensus target price of $79.86, suggesting a potential upside of 6.70%. BlackLine has a consensus target price of $66.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.05%. Given Dayforce’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Dayforce is more favorable than BlackLine.

Profitability

This table compares Dayforce and BlackLine’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dayforce	3.12%	6.69%	1.79%
BlackLine	19.83%	31.02%	4.92%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Dayforce and BlackLine”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dayforce	$1.69 billion	6.97	$54.80 million	$0.33	226.79
BlackLine	$639.61 million	6.20	$58.17 million	$0.98	64.72

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

Risk and Volatility

Dayforce has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BlackLine has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.1% of BlackLine shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.9% of Dayforce shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.9% of BlackLine shares are owned 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.

About Dayforce

Dayforce Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a human capital management (HCM) software company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers Dayforce, a cloud HCM platform that provides human resources, payroll and tax, workforce management, wallet, benefits, and talent intelligence functionalities; and Powerpay, a cloud HR and payroll solution for the small business market. The company also provides payroll and payroll-related services; and implementation and professional services. It sells its solutions through direct sales force and third-party channels. The company was formerly known as Ceridian HCM Holding Inc. and changed its name to Dayforce Inc. in February 2024. Dayforce Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About BlackLine

BlackLine, Inc. operates a cloud-based software platform which is designed to transform accounting and finance operations for organizations of all types and sizes. Its scalable platform supports critical accounting processes such as the financial close, account reconciliations, intercompany accounting, and controls assurance. The company was founded by Therese Tucker in May 2001 and is headquartered in Woodland Hills, CA.