CGNT vs CRM vs MSA Stock Comparison

Cognyte Software, Salesforce and MSA Safety Prices as of Nov 5, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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CGNT Cognyte Software Ltd.
$8.09 -8.4% 1M -5.4% 1Y
Market cap
$591.30M
P/E
169.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$421.71M
Div. yield
–
Analytics and BI Technology
1 win
CRM Salesforce, Inc.
$222.37 -1.1% 1M -12.0% 1Y
Market cap
$175.98B
P/E
18.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$43.94B
Div. yield
–
CRM and Sales Software Technology
6 wins
MSA MSA Safety Inc
$170.24 -6.7% 1M +6.4% 1Y
Market cap
$6.57B
P/E
21.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.01B
Div. yield
–
Power Tools Industrials
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Salesforce leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Salesforce 6, MSA Safety 4, Cognyte Software 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCGNTCRMMSALeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $591.30M $175.98B $6.57B CRM
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 169.5x 18.2x 21.7x CRM
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 16.9x 12.6x 18.3x CRM
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +12.0% +11.2% +8.1% CGNT
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 0.8% 22.0% 15.0% CRM
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 9.0% 13.5% MSA
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 1.9x 1.9x CRM
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -5.4% -12.0% +6.4% MSA
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -17.4%/yr -6.3%/yr +2.1%/yr MSA
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 52.6% 47.0% 25.8% MSA
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 57/100 70/100 70/100 CRM

Percentile Scorecard

CGNTCRMMSA

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisCGNTCRMMSA
Valuation 63 #38 of 100 77 #24 of 100 52 #99 of 204
Growth 91 #10 of 99 74 #27 of 99 79 #41 of 191
Profitability 61 #38 of 96 87 #13 of 96 90 #20 of 189
Financial Health 58 #48 of 112 42 #65 of 112 49 #114 of 221
Shareholder Returns 12 #59 of 67 71 #20 of 67 80 #32 of 159
Overall 57 70 70
  • CGNT ranked among 113 companies in Business Applications
  • CRM ranked among 113 companies in Business Applications
  • MSA ranked among 223 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodCGNTCRMMSASPY
1 month -8.4%-1.1%-6.7% -5.9%
3 months -10.4%+19.0%-12.3% -4.6%
6 months -26.5%+19.3%-1.0% +0.2%
Year to date -13.9%-16.1%+6.3% +7.5%
1 year -5.4%-12.0%+6.4% +8.2%
3 years +88.1%+7.2%+6.6% +68.3%
3 years, per year +23.5%+2.3%+2.1% +19.0%
5 years -61.4%-27.6%+11.0% +56.5%
5 years, per year -17.4%-6.3%+2.1% +9.4%
10 years —+199.0%+203.5% +251.5%
10 years, per year —+11.6%+11.7% +13.4%

Risk

MeasureCGNTCRMMSASPY
Volatility, 1Y 52.6%47.0%25.8% 13.6%
Downside volatility, 1Y 57.9%42.0%24.4% 14.2%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.330.430.77 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.10-0.260.25 0.60
Max drawdown, 5Y -89.3%-59.2%-34.9% -25.4%
From 52-week high -33.9%-16.5%-16.2% -5.9%
52-week high $12.24$266.23$203.08 $779.14
52-week low $6.34$150.12$152.94 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleCGNTCRMMSA
P/E now vs peer median 169.1xmedian 24.7x 18.9xmedian 24.7x 21.7xmedian 23.4x
P/S now vs peer median 1.4xmedian 2.8x 4.2xmedian 2.8x 3.3xmedian 1.7x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 16.6xmedian 16.5x 14.1xmedian 16.5x 15.4xmedian 13.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 20.4xmedian 15.3x 12.1xmedian 15.3x 20.4xmedian 21.9x
P/B now vs peer median 2.7xmedian 2.7x 4.8xmedian 2.7x 4.6xmedian 2.1x
PEG now vs peer median 6.27median 0.77 0.20median 0.77 0.20median 1.02

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsCGNTCRMMSA
Revenue $421.71M $43.94B $2.01B
Gross profit $307.70M $33.96B $952.50M
Operating income $17.43M $8.74B $407.09M
Net income $4.85M $9.66B $302.79M
Free cash flow $28.96M $15.15B $322.01M
R&D $127.59M $6.37B $71.63M
EPS (diluted) $0.05 $11.77 $7.83
Cash & equivalents $102.17M $8.31B $187.25M
Total debt – $39.29B $1.12B
Shares (diluted) 72.91M 821.00M 38.65M
Enterprise value $156.48M $131.85B $5.84B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricCGNTCRMMSA
P/E 169.1x 18.9x 21.7x
P/FCF 20.4x 12.1x 20.4x
P/Operating cash flow 14.3x 11.6x 17.5x
P/S 1.4x 4.2x 3.3x
P/B 2.7x 4.8x 4.6x
P/Tangible book 2.7x 5.7x 7.5x
EV/EBITDA 16.6x 14.1x 15.4x
EV/EBIT 28.1x 24.1x 18.4x
EV/Revenue 1.2x 4.8x 3.7x
EV/FCF 16.9x 13.9x 23.3x
EV/Operating cash flow 11.8x 13.4x 19.9x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 6.27 0.20 0.20

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCGNTCRMMSA
Revenue growth (1Y) 12.0% 11.2% 8.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 12.7% 9.9% 5.1%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 15.3% 10.7% 10.0%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 17.1% 11.3% 5.5%
Operating income growth (1Y) 406.0% 9.4% 8.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 31.9% 47.8% 26.8%
Net income growth (1Y) 202.7% 45.0% 8.2%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 27.4% 82.9% 108.0%
EPS growth (1Y) 201.4% 69.9% 9.9%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 26.9% 94.5% 109.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 56.8% 19.6% 7.5%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 38.0% 23.3% 217.6%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 53.0% 21.3% 13.8%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 66.3% 26.1% 96.8%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCGNTCRMMSA
Gross margin 73.0% 77.3% 47.3%
EBITDA margin 7.0% 34.0% 24.1%
Operating margin 4.1% 19.9% 20.2%
Pretax margin 3.1% 28.2% 19.8%
Net margin 0.8% 22.0% 15.0%
FCF margin 6.9% 34.5% 16.0%
Operating cash flow margin 9.8% 35.8% 18.7%
Return on equity 2.2% 26.7% 21.4%
Return on assets 0.9% 8.9% 10.3%
Return on invested capital – 9.0% 13.5%
Return on capital employed 5.9% 10.7% 15.9%
Asset turnover 0.8x 0.4x 0.7x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 8.5x 1.6x 1.2x
Stock comp / revenue 5.3% 8.3% 1.1%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCGNTCRMMSA
Debt / assets – 35.8% 34.2%
Debt / equity – 1.0x 0.8x
Net debt / EBITDA – 1.9x 1.9x
Debt / FCF – 2.6x 3.5x
Liabilities / assets 56.6% 65.0% 56.3%
Equity / assets 43.4% 35.0% 43.7%
Interest coverage 113.9x 9.4x 10.8x
Current ratio 1.3x 0.8x 2.7x
Quick ratio 0.5x 0.7x 1.5x
Cash ratio 0.5x 0.4x 0.5x
Altman Z-score 1.93 2.50 4.11

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCGNTCRMMSA
Dividend yield – 0.8% 1.3%
Net buyback yield -3.4% 18.7% 2.1%
Shareholder yield -3.4% 19.5% 3.3%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusCGNTCRMMSA
Forward P/E 16.9xFY2026 12.6xFY2026 18.3xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $0.48FY2026 $17.65FY2026 $9.32FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +71.4%FY2026 +41.0%FY2026 +17.5%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +68.8% -5.2% +3.5%
Revenue, next fiscal year $426.78MFY2026 $43.89BFY2026 $1.99BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +6.7%FY2026 +5.7%FY2026 +5.7%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +18.3% +11.7% +19.6%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCGNTCRMMSA
Held by institutions 67.2% 80.7% 91.0%
Institutions holding 134 2,474 457
Change in shares held, QoQ -2.8% -4.9% +3.0%
Institutions buying 75 1,004 236
Institutions selling 33 1,272 147
Buyers to sellers 2.27 0.79 1.61

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

CGNTCRMMSA
CGNT 1.00 0.49 -0.02
CRM 0.49 1.00 -0.07
MSA -0.02 -0.07 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CGNT, CRM and MSA?

Salesforce (CRM) is the largest by market capitalisation: Cognyte Software (CGNT) $591.30M, Salesforce (CRM) $175.98B, MSA Safety (MSA) $6.57B.

Which stock is cheaper, CGNT, CRM and MSA?

Salesforce (CRM) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Cognyte Software (CGNT) 169.5x, Salesforce (CRM) 18.2x, MSA Safety (MSA) 21.7x). On next year's consensus earnings, Salesforce (CRM) is cheapest (Cognyte Software (CGNT) 16.9x, Salesforce (CRM) 12.6x, MSA Safety (MSA) 18.3x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Cognyte Software (CGNT) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Cognyte Software (CGNT) +12.0%, Salesforce (CRM) +11.2%, MSA Safety (MSA) +8.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Salesforce (CRM) has the highest net margin (Cognyte Software (CGNT) 0.8%, Salesforce (CRM) 22.0%, MSA Safety (MSA) 15.0%). On return on invested capital, MSA Safety (MSA) leads (Salesforce (CRM) 9.0%, MSA Safety (MSA) 13.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year MSA Safety (MSA) returned the most: Cognyte Software (CGNT) -5.4%, Salesforce (CRM) -12.0%, MSA Safety (MSA) +6.4%. Over five years, MSA Safety (MSA) compounded fastest (Cognyte Software (CGNT) -17.4%/yr, Salesforce (CRM) -6.3%/yr, MSA Safety (MSA) +2.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, MSA Safety (MSA) has been the steadiest (Cognyte Software (CGNT) 52.6%, Salesforce (CRM) 47.0%, MSA Safety (MSA) 25.8%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CGNT, CRM and MSA?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Salesforce (CRM) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.