Reviewing Liberty TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:LTRPA) and Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK)

Upwork (NASDAQ:UPWK) and Liberty TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:LTRPA) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Upwork and Liberty TripAdvisor, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Upwork	0	3	7	0	2.70
Liberty TripAdvisor	0	0	0	0	N/A

Upwork presently has a consensus target price of $17.30, suggesting a potential upside of 42.98%. Given Upwork’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Upwork is more favorable than Liberty TripAdvisor.

Risk & Volatility

Upwork has a beta of 1.66, indicating that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liberty TripAdvisor has a beta of 3.72, indicating that its stock price is 272% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Upwork and Liberty TripAdvisor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Upwork	6.70%	13.96%	4.90%
Liberty TripAdvisor	-15.94%	43.52%	17.65%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.7% of Upwork shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.4% of Liberty TripAdvisor shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.6% of Upwork shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of Liberty TripAdvisor shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Upwork and Liberty TripAdvisor’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Upwork	$689.14 million	2.33	$46.89 million	$0.35	34.57
Liberty TripAdvisor	$1.68 billion	0.02	-$285.00 million	($3.71)	-0.14

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

Summary

Upwork beats Liberty TripAdvisor on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Upwork

Upwork Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates a work marketplace that connects businesses with various independent professionals and agencies in the United States, India, the Philippines, and internationally. The company's work marketplace provides access to talent with various skills across a range of categories, including administrative support, sales and marketing, design and creative, and customer service, as well as web, mobile, and software development. Its work marketplace also enables clients to streamline workflows, such as talent sourcing, outreach, and contracting. The company's work marketplace offers access to various functionalities for remote engagements with talent, including communication and collaboration, ability to receive talent invoices through their work marketplace, and payment protection. Its marketplace offerings include Upwork Payroll and Upwork Enterprise, as well as managed and escrow services. The company was formerly known as Elance-oDesk, Inc. and changed its name to Upwork Inc. in May 2015. Upwork Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Liberty TripAdvisor

Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. operates a travel guidance platform that connects people and audiences with travel partners in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Brand Tripadvisor, Viator, and TheFork. It offers an online platform that provides content, travel guidance products and services, and two-sided marketplaces for travelers to discover, generate, and share authentic user-generated content in the form of ratings and reviews for destinations, points-of-interest, experiences, accommodations, restaurants, cruises, and other travel categories, including alternative accommodations, flights, and rental cars. The company provides click-based, display-based, and subscription-based advertising services. In addition, it operates Viator, an online marketplace that includes website, mobile web, and mobile app, which allows travelers to research and book tours, activities, and attractions in travel destinations worldwide; and TheFork, an online restaurant reservations platform that offers information and services for consumers to research and book restaurants. The company markets and sells its services through its own platform channels, online search engines, social media, email, media via public relations, partnerships, and content distribution. Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado.