Contrasting Veritone (NASDAQ:VERI) & MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX)

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) and Veritone (NASDAQ:VERI) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

64.4% of MediaAlpha shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.2% of Veritone shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.4% of MediaAlpha shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.0% of Veritone shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares MediaAlpha and Veritone’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MediaAlpha	-0.61%	-62.53%	12.91%
Veritone	-40.29%	-4,022.14%	-18.62%

Volatility and Risk

MediaAlpha has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Veritone has a beta of 3.23, suggesting that its stock price is 223% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares MediaAlpha and Veritone”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MediaAlpha	$864.70 million	0.88	$16.63 million	($0.12)	-93.00
Veritone	$92.64 million	3.38	-$37.38 million	($0.83)	-6.37

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for MediaAlpha and Veritone, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MediaAlpha	0	0	6	0	3.00
Veritone	0	1	3	1	3.00

MediaAlpha currently has a consensus target price of $18.25, indicating a potential upside of 63.53%. Veritone has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential downside of 5.48%. Given MediaAlpha’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe MediaAlpha is more favorable than Veritone.

Summary

MediaAlpha beats Veritone on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MediaAlpha

MediaAlpha, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States. It optimizes customer acquisition in various verticals of property and casualty insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About Veritone

Veritone, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of artificial intelligence (AI) computing solutions and services in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Israel, and India. It develops and operates aiWARE platform, an AI operating system, that uses machine learning algorithms or AI models designed to mimic human cognitive functions, such as perception, prediction, and problem solving and optimization, as well as enables users to transform unstructured data into structured data, and analyze and optimize data to drive business processes and insights. The company also provides media advertising agency services, including media planning and strategy, media buying and placement, campaign messaging, clearance verification and attribution, and custom analytics directly to advertisers through outbound sales networking, and client and partner referrals, as well as indirectly through advertising agencies or marketing consultants. It serves media and entertainment, government, legal and compliance, energy, and other vertical markets. The company was formerly known as Veritone Delaware, Inc. and changed its name to Veritone, Inc. in July 2014. Veritone, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.