comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR – Get Free Report) and Harte Hanks (NASDAQ:HHS – Get Free Report) are both small-cap communication services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
42.2% of comScore shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.8% of Harte Hanks shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of comScore shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.6% of Harte Hanks shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares comScore and Harte Hanks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| comScore | 5.19% | 107.78% | 25.60% |
| Harte Hanks | -3.70% | -30.14% | -6.30% |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares comScore and Harte Hanks”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| comScore | $346.94 million | 0.14 | -$10.00 million | $0.70 | 4.69 |
| Harte Hanks | $159.57 million | 0.19 | -$810,000.00 | ($0.76) | -5.28 |
Harte Hanks has lower revenue, but higher earnings than comScore. Harte Hanks is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than comScore, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
comScore has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harte Hanks has a beta of 0.24, indicating that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current recommendations for comScore and Harte Hanks, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| comScore | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Harte Hanks | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Summary
comScore beats Harte Hanks on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.
About comScore
comScore, Inc. operates as an information and analytics company that measures audiences, consumer behavior, and advertising across media platforms in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Canada, and internationally. The company provides digital ad solutions, including Media Metrix Multi-Platform and Mobile Metrix, which measure websites and applications on computers, smartphones, and tablets; Video Metrix that delivers measurement of digital video consumption; Plan Metrix, which offers understanding of consumer lifestyle; Total Home Panel Suite, which capture OTT, connected TV, and IOT device usage and content consumption; CCR, which enhances validated campaign essentials verification of mobile and desktop video campaigns; XMedia Enhanced, which provides a deduplicated view of national programming content; Comscore marketing solutions; Lift Models, which measures the impact of advertising on a brand; Survey Analytics, which measure various consumer insights including brand health metrics; and Activation Solutions, including audience activation and content activation. The company's cross platform solutions products and services comprises Comscore TVNational that helps customers understand the performance of network advertising campaigns; Comscore TVLocal allows customers to understand consumer viewing patterns and characteristics; OnDemand Essentials that provides transactional tracking and reporting; Movie Solutions; and Hollywood Software Suite. In addition, it offers custom solutions for planning, optimization, and evaluation of advertising campaigns and brand protection. Further, the company provides products that measure movie viewership and box office results by capturing movie ticket sales in real time or near real time. It serves digital publishers, television networks, movie studios, content owners, brand advertisers, agencies, and technology providers. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
About Harte Hanks
Harte-Hanks, Inc. engages in the provision of marketing solutions. It specializes in consulting, data analytics, creative services, digital and social media, marketing strategy, marketing technology, and other related services. It supports a range of customers in the field of technology, travel and leisure, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, automotive, finance, and retail. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in San Antonio, TX.
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