Comparing National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) and Phreesia (NYSE:PHR)

Phreesia (NYSE:PHR) and National Research (NASDAQ:NRC) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Phreesia and National Research’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Phreesia	2.06%	5.22%	3.02%
National Research	4.18%	164.26%	14.67%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Phreesia and National Research, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Phreesia	1	10	8	0	2.37
National Research	1	1	1	0	2.00

Phreesia presently has a consensus price target of $14.07, indicating a potential upside of 27.39%. National Research has a consensus price target of $26.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.26%. Given Phreesia’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Phreesia is more favorable than National Research.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.1% of Phreesia shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.3% of National Research shares are held by institutional investors. 5.2% of Phreesia shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.2% of National Research shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Phreesia has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Research has a beta of 0.25, meaning that its share price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Phreesia and National Research”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Phreesia	$507.79 million	1.35	$2.31 million	$0.17	64.95
National Research	$140.00 million	3.43	$11.60 million	$0.25	84.37

National Research has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Phreesia. Phreesia is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Research, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

National Research beats Phreesia on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Phreesia

Phreesia, Inc. provides an integrated SaaS-based software and payment platform for the healthcare industry in the United States and Canada. The company offers access solutions that offers appointment scheduling system for online appointments, reminders, and referral tracking management; registration solution to automate patient self-registration; revenue cycle solution, which offer insurance-verification processes, point-of-sale payments applications, post-visit payment collection, and flexible payment options; and network connect solution to deliver clinically relevant content to patients. The company deploys its platform in a range of modalities, such as Phreesia Mobile, a patients' mobile device; Phreesia Dashboard, a web-based dashboard for healthcare services clients; PhreesiaPads, a self-service intake tablets; and Arrivals Kiosks, an on-site kiosks. It serves patients; single-specialty practices, multi-specialty groups, and health systems; and pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.

About National Research

National Research Corporation provides analytics and insights that facilitate measurement and enhancement of the patient and employee experience. Its portfolio of subscription-based solutions provides actionable information and analysis to healthcare organizations across a range of mission-critical, constituent-related elements, including patient experience, service recovery, care transitions, employee engagement, reputation management, and brand loyalty. The company also offers marketing solutions that allow the tracking of awareness, perception, and consistency of healthcare brands; assessment of competitive differentiators; and enhanced segmentation tools to evaluate needs, wants, and behaviors of communities through real-time competitive assessments and enhanced segmentation tools. In addition, it provides experience solutions, such as patient experience, employee engagement, health risk assessments, care transition, and improvement tools. Further, the company provides reputation solutions that allow healthcare organizations to share a picture of their organization and ensure that timely and relevant content informs consumer decision-making; and governance solutions for not-for-profit hospital and health system boards of directors, executives, and physician leadership. National Research Corporation was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska.