Contrasting PodcastOne (NASDAQ:PODC) and NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES)

PodcastOne (NASDAQ:PODC) and NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) are both communication services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for PodcastOne and NetEase, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PodcastOne	2	0	0	0	1.00
NetEase	0	3	6	0	2.67

NetEase has a consensus price target of $159.86, indicating a potential upside of 29.20%. Given NetEase’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe NetEase is more favorable than PodcastOne.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

2.9% of PodcastOne shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.1% of NetEase shares are held by institutional investors. 7.8% of PodcastOne shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 54.7% of NetEase shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares PodcastOne and NetEase”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PodcastOne	$62.80 million	0.95	-$2.64 million	($0.12)	-16.42
NetEase	$16.11 billion	4.92	$4.83 billion	$7.26	17.04

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

Volatility & Risk

PodcastOne has a beta of 2.18, indicating that its share price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NetEase has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares PodcastOne and NetEase’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PodcastOne	-5.01%	-17.56%	-10.97%
NetEase	27.86%	19.50%	14.45%

Summary

NetEase beats PodcastOne on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PodcastOne

PodcastOne, Inc. operates as a podcast platform and publisher. The company offers its content to audiences through podcasting distribution platforms, including its website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and others. It also produces vodcasts, branded podcasts, merchandise, and live events. In addition, the company builds, owns, and operates LaunchPadOne, a self-publishing podcast platform. The company was formerly known as Courtside Group, Inc. and changed its name to PodcastOne, Inc. in September 2023. PodcastOne, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is based in Beverly Hills, California. PodcastOne, Inc. is a subsidiary of LiveOne, Inc.

About NetEase

NetEase, Inc. engages in online games, music streaming, online intelligent learning services, and internet content services businesses in China and internationally . The company operates through Games and Related Value-Added Services, Youdao, Cloud Music, and Innovative Businesses and Others segments. It develops and operates PC and mobile games, as well as offers games licensed from other game developers. The company's products and services include Youdao Dictionary, an online knowledge tool; Youdao Translation, a tool specifically designed to support translation needs of business and leisure travelers; U-Dictionary, an online dictionary and translation app; Youdao Kids' Dictionary, a smart and fun tool; smart devices, such as Youdao Dictionary Pen, Youdao Smart Learning Pad, Youdao Listening Pod, Youdao Smart Light, Youdao Pocket Translator, and Youdao Super Dictionary; online courses; interactive learning apps; and education digitalization solutions, such as Youdao Smart Learning Terminal, a device that automates paper-based homework processing; Youdao Smart Cloud, a cloud-based platform that allows third-party app developers, smart device brands, and manufacturers to the company's OCR capabilities; and Youdao Sports, a sports-centric educational system. Its products and services also include NetEase Cloud Music, a music streaming platform; Yanxuan, an e-commerce platform, which sells private label products; www.163.com portal and related mobile app, Wangyi Xinwen, which deliver information such as news, sports events, technology, fashion trends, and online entertainment; NetEase Mail, an email service; NetEase CC Live streaming, a live streaming platform with a focus on game broadcasting; and NetEase Pay, a payment platform. The company was formerly known as NetEase.com, Inc. and changed its name to NetEase, Inc. in March 2012. NetEase, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China.