Critical Contrast: NAVER (OTCMKTS:NHNCF) vs. Pinterest (NYSE:PINS)

Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) and NAVER (OTCMKTS:NHNCF) are both communication services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Pinterest and NAVER’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pinterest	5.46%	7.49%	5.62%
NAVER	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pinterest	$4.22 billion	3.08	$416.86 million	$0.34	68.24
NAVER	N/A	N/A	N/A	$14,217.46	0.01

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.8% of Pinterest shares are held by institutional investors. 8.1% of Pinterest shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Pinterest and NAVER, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pinterest	0	19	17	0	2.47
NAVER	0	0	0	0	0.00

Pinterest presently has a consensus target price of $27.90, indicating a potential upside of 20.26%. Given Pinterest’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Pinterest is more favorable than NAVER.

Summary

Pinterest beats NAVER on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pinterest

Pinterest, Inc. operates as a visual search and discovery platform in the United States and internationally. Its platform allows people to find ideas, such as recipes, home and style inspiration, and others; and to search, save, and shop the ideas. The company was formerly known as Cold Brew Labs Inc. and changed its name to Pinterest, Inc. in April 2012. Pinterest, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About NAVER

NAVER Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides internet and online search portal, and mobile messenger platform services in South Korea, Japan, and internationally. The company offers NAVER, a search portal that offers various content topic boards; LINE, a messaging application; Naver Clova, an integrated AI platform; Papago, an automated interpretation application; WHALE, a web browser; Naver Map, a navigation application; Webtoon, a promotion system for mobile comics; SERIES, a paid content platform; BAND, a mobile community platform; NOW, an audio shows to listen to on NAVER app; SNOW, a photo and video messenger; and NAVER WORKS, which provides features necessary for work, such as Message, Mail, Calendar, and Drive. It also provides IT platforms, BIZ platforms, advertising services, and NAVER business school for businesses; NAVER Webtoon, NAVER Webnovel, NAVER Blog Official Blog, NAVER AudioClip, Series, Premium Contents, Grafolio, NAVER Post, NAVER TV, NAVER Influencer Center, Creator Advisor, and VIBE for creators; and NAVER D2 Startup Factory, DEVIEW, NAVER D2, NAVER Open Source, CLOVA Platform API, NAVER Maps API, Papago API, and NAVER login for developers. In addition, the company is involved in the manufacture of cosmetics; electronic financial business; film and audio content production and distribution; investment business; and character and doll wholesale and retail activities. Further, it engages in the provision of cloud service management, business support, workforce supply, and employee dispatch; groupware development and service; exhibition and performance planning business; global business support; software development and distribution; IT infrastructure operations; customer center operations; and comics publishing. The company was formerly known as NHN Corporation. NAVER Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Seongnam-si, South Korea.