Comparing MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) & Grab (NASDAQ:GRAB)

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

64.4% of MediaAlpha shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.5% of Grab shares are held by institutional investors. 11.5% of MediaAlpha shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of Grab shares are held by company 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares MediaAlpha and Grab’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MediaAlpha	$388.15 million	3.24	-$40.42 million	($0.89)	-21.46
Grab	$2.36 billion	5.57	-$434.00 million	($0.10)	-33.50

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for MediaAlpha and Grab, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MediaAlpha	1	0	5	0	2.67
Grab	0	0	6	0	3.00

MediaAlpha currently has a consensus price target of $18.20, suggesting a potential downside of 4.71%. Grab has a consensus price target of $5.10, suggesting a potential upside of 52.24%. Given Grab’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Grab is more favorable than MediaAlpha.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MediaAlpha	-10.41%	N/A	-27.85%
Grab	-18.43%	-6.77%	-5.10%

Risk and Volatility

MediaAlpha has a beta of 1.35, suggesting that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Grab has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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 Grab

Grab Holdings Limited engages in the provision of superapps in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The company offers its Grab ecosystem, a single platform with superapps for driver- and merchant-partners and consumers, that allows access to mobility, delivery, digital financial services, and enterprise sector offerings. The company is headquartered in Singapore.