Comparing Emerald (NYSE:EEX) & comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR)

Emerald (NYSE:EEX) and comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Emerald and comScore”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Emerald	$393.50 million	2.29	-$8.20 million	($0.54)	-8.23
comScore	$371.34 million	0.11	-$79.36 million	($21.75)	-0.39

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Emerald and comScore, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Emerald	0	0	2	0	3.00
comScore	0	1	1	0	2.50

Emerald presently has a consensus target price of $7.90, suggesting a potential upside of 77.73%. comScore has a consensus target price of $10.75, suggesting a potential upside of 27.82%. Given Emerald’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Emerald is more favorable than comScore.

Profitability

This table compares Emerald and comScore’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Emerald	-5.29%	-13.26%	-1.92%
comScore	-25.77%	-243.87%	-19.79%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

14.9% of Emerald shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.2% of comScore shares are held by institutional investors. 11.5% of Emerald shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of comScore shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Emerald has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, comScore has a beta of 1.17, indicating that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Emerald beats comScore on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Emerald

Emerald Holding, Inc. operates business-to-business (B2B) trade shows in the United States. The company provides B2B trade show franchises; and B2B print publications and digital media products, which provide industry specific business news and information across various sectors. It also offers B2B e-commerce and digital merchandising solutions to manufacturers and retailers through Elastic Suite and Bulletin platforms. The company serves retail, design, technology, equipment, and safety and security. Emerald Holding, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

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.