MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) versus CBIZ (NYSE:CBZ) Financial Comparison

MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) and CBIZ (NYSE:CBZ) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation and risk.

Risk and Volatility

MediaAlpha has a beta of 1.12, suggesting that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CBIZ has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

64.4% of MediaAlpha shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of CBIZ shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.5% of MediaAlpha shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of CBIZ shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MediaAlpha	1.41%	-11.98%	5.19%
CBIZ	7.08%	15.12%	6.16%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for MediaAlpha and CBIZ, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MediaAlpha	0	1	5	0	2.83
CBIZ	0	0	1	0	3.00

MediaAlpha presently has a consensus target price of $17.50, indicating a potential upside of 89.27%. CBIZ has a consensus target price of $86.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.83%. Given MediaAlpha’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe MediaAlpha is more favorable than CBIZ.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MediaAlpha and CBIZ”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MediaAlpha	$681.23 million	0.90	-$40.42 million	$0.17	54.39
CBIZ	$1.68 billion	2.55	$120.97 million	$2.36	36.14

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

Summary

CBIZ beats MediaAlpha on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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 CBIZ

CBIZ, Inc. provides financial, insurance, and advisory services in the United States and Canada. It operates through Financial Services, Benefits and Insurance Services, and National Practices segments. The Financial Services segment offers accounting and tax, financial advisory, valuation, risk and advisory, and government healthcare consulting services. The Benefits and Insurance Services provides employee benefits consulting, payroll/human capital management, property and casualty insurance, and retirement and investment services. The National Practices segment offers information technology managed networking and hardware, and health care consulting services. The company primarily serves small and medium-sized businesses, as well as individuals, governmental entities, and not-for-profit enterprises. CBIZ, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Independence, Ohio.