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DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU) and Upwork (NASDAQ: UPWK) are both growing fast and have huge market opportunities ahead, but which company is the better bet for investors?
In this episode of The Motley Fool's Industry Focus: Technology, host Dylan Lewis and Fool.com contributor Brian Feroldi pit these two businesses against each other and share which one they think is the smarter buy.
A full transcript follows the video.
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This video was recorded on Nov. 16, 2018.
Dylan Lewis: To have a little fun to wrap up, Brian, you mentioned Upwork and our discussion last week. I will put it to you: Upwork or DocuSign? If you're buying one, which one do you like more?
Brian Feroldi: I think there's reason to be bullish on both companies. But if I was forced to choose just one, my personal choice would be DocuSign. I think the corporate culture is a little bit stronger, it's growing a little bit faster, and I see it as the far and away leader in its industry. I think Upwork is, too. But my money would just be on DocuSign. How about you?
Lewis: You know, I think I'm going to take the other side of this one. I think they're both really strong businesses. The as-a-service segment in general has been so strong, and there have been so many great companies that have come out of there for investors. I like that Upwork's a bit smaller. We're working with a $2 billion valuation, roughly, for Upwork, DocuSign is about $6 billion. I think they both have huge addressable markets in front of them. This might be more of a semantic argument than anything else.
But I'm with you. I think the culture is probably better at DocuSign. There were some issues in Upwork's recent report with growth decelerating a bit. But I like the tailwind of the gig economy. I think DocuSign also benefits from some strong tailwinds, but for my money, I think I like the idea of working with a smaller valuation to start, and maybe blossoming into something a little bit larger. Just by the sheer nature of what it might multiply to, I think I'm a little bit more interested in Upwork.
Feroldi: The awesome thing about investing is, you don't have to make a choice. You can buy both if you want to.
Lewis: It's not a zero-sum game! It's so wonderful.
Brian Feroldi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Dylan Lewis has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends DocuSign and Upwork. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.