BB Vs. FEYE: Which Stock Is The Better Cybersecurity Bet?

Cybersecurity has become a growing sector within the tech industry. Companies such as FireEye (NASDAQ:FEYE) , which defends against cyber-attacks in enterprises and governments, have dominated the market for years, but many investors may not be aware of an up-and-coming competitor, BlackBerry (NYSE:BB) .

BlackBerry made impressive gains from 2002 through 2008 as a leading cellular manufacturer and provider. After its popularity declined, shares prices fell more than 90% from June 2008 to the present day. But BlackBerry stock is making a comeback and could provide high hopes for investors.

The company has recently made a shift into the cybersecurity market, with its most recent breakthrough focusing on security in self-driving cars. John Chen, CEO and Executive Chairman of BlackBerry, has led this charge into the new and growing industry. The company hopes to align itself with the rising market and make a full-fledged comeback.

Breakdown

Assessing these two stocks can be quite tricky because of confounding variables and their respective strengths. FireEye outranks BlackBerry in all three of our Style Scores categories: Value, Growth, and Momentum.

Its most promising category is Momentum, where it earns a “B” grade. Share prices have risen 44.6% in the past year, including a 7.5% jump in the last month. Meanwhile, BlackBerry sports a lackluster “F” grade in the category due to its losses in the last 12 weeks.

FireEye and Blackberry (TO:BB) both hold “F” grades in the Value category. Both companies have alarming P/E ratios, almost 20 times their respective industry averages, suggesting they are being traded at extreme premiums to their actual value.

Upon closer evaluation, these numbers are surprising in a number of regards. A high P/E ratio is indicative of an overvalued stock, most likely due to speculated growth in the near future, or a strong track record of growth. This statistic, combined with the Zacks Rank for each company, can help us to make sense of the numbers.

BlackBerry’s unveiling of a revolutionary new technology within cybersecurity has led to 100% agreement to the upside among analysts making revisions to its EPS estimates, and it currently holds a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

FireEye boasts a stable analyst position and currently holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Considering BlackBerry has only recently jumped into this field of the tech sector, there could be more promise than the already established and steady FireEye.

Blackberry’s potential within this revolutionary market help it outshine FireEye, which has not proven any noteworthy growth since 2015.

Bottom Line

At first glance both stocks may seem overvalued, but when we combine these metrics with the company’s respective Zacks Rank, we can see that BlackBerry has a much greater potential for amazing gains than its counterpart FireEye, who show signs of stability. In this scenario, BlackBerry looks like the stronger cybersecurity option right now.

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